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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. The ________________ market has crashed.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  4. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  5. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  8. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  9. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  10. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  11. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  12. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  13. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  14. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  15. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  16. It's one o'clock ________________.
  17. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  18. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  19. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  20. When are we going to ________________?
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  23. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  24. What's the difference between broth and ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. stock — shares
  2. degree — from a university
  3. pass — to succeed
  4. staff — employees
  5. dip — to dunk
  6. degree — an amount
  7. land — ground
  8. sharp — clever
  9. dip — a sauce
  10. pass — to spend time
  11. staff — employees
  12. pass — a permit
  13. stock — goods
  14. dip — to sink
  15. sharp — with an edge
  16. sharp — exactly
  17. chest — of your body
  18. chest — a box
  19. land — a country
  20. land — to come down
  21. degree — temperature
  22. staff — a stick
  23. chest — of your body
  24. stock — a soup base

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