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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 120 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  2. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  3. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  4. The ________________ market has crashed.
  5. We're almost out of ________________.
  6. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  7. When are we going to ________________?
  8. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  9. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  10. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  11. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  14. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  15. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  16. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. He works in a ________________ mill.
  19. You don't need to ________________ round.
  20. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  21. She's very handy with a ________________.
  22. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  23. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  24. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. club — for golf
  2. file — a tool
  3. degree — temperature
  4. stock — shares
  5. pop — soda
  6. file — a document
  7. land — to come down
  8. bowl — a dish
  9. club — a group
  10. stock — a soup base
  11. bowl — a football final
  12. degree — an amount
  13. file — a line of people
  14. pop — music
  15. land — ground
  16. stock — goods
  17. degree — from a university
  18. saw — the tool
  19. pop — to visit
  20. saw — past of 'see'
  21. saw — the tool
  22. bowl — to roll
  23. land — a country
  24. club — for dancing

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com