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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. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  2. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  3. What do you think of the new ________________?
  4. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  5. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  6. She's very handy with a ________________.
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  9. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  10. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  11. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  12. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  13. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  14. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  15. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  16. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  17. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  18. He works in a ________________ mill.
  19. The ________________ market has crashed.
  20. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  21. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  22. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  23. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  24. We were using a ________________ as a seat.

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

Answer key

  1. rock — music
  2. bark — to shout
  3. cabinet — ministers
  4. cabinet — ministers
  5. stock — goods
  6. saw — the tool
  7. degree — an amount
  8. bark — a dog's sound
  9. bass — low music
  10. bass — the instrument
  11. bark — of a tree
  12. mine — an explosive
  13. stock — a soup base
  14. rock — to move gently
  15. cabinet — a cupboard
  16. saw — past of 'see'
  17. mine — for digging
  18. saw — the tool
  19. stock — shares
  20. degree — temperature
  21. degree — from a university
  22. bass — the fish
  23. mine — belonging to me
  24. rock — a stone

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