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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 124 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. We're on a ________________ here.
  2. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  3. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  4. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  5. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  6. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  7. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  8. There's no middle ________________.
  9. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  10. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  11. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  12. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. Don't do anything ________________.
  15. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  16. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  17. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  18. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  19. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  20. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  21. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  22. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  23. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  24. The ________________ market has crashed.

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

Answer key

  1. roll — on a roll
  2. roll — a list
  3. roll — a cake
  4. stock — a soup base
  5. scale — in music
  6. chest — of your body
  7. drill — the tool
  8. ground — a position
  9. chest — a box
  10. degree — an amount
  11. ground — crushed
  12. ground — the earth
  13. degree — temperature
  14. rash — hasty
  15. rash — a series
  16. scale — size or range
  17. chest — of your body
  18. drill — a practice
  19. degree — from a university
  20. scale — for weighing
  21. stock — goods
  22. drill — army training
  23. rash — on the skin
  24. stock — shares

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