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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 116 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. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  2. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  4. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  5. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  6. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  7. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  8. Did you ________________ the meat?
  9. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  10. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  11. The ________________ market has crashed.
  12. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  16. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  17. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  18. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  19. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  20. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  21. The ball is in your ________________.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — to turn a key
  2. wind — moving air
  3. season — of the year
  4. craft — a skill
  5. wind — moving air
  6. stock — goods
  7. court — of a king
  8. season — to add flavour
  9. bark — to shout
  10. degree — an amount
  11. stock — shares
  12. craft — boats
  13. cold — not warm
  14. degree — temperature
  15. court — of law
  16. bark — a dog's sound
  17. craft — a handicraft
  18. stock — a soup base
  19. season — in sport
  20. bark — of a tree
  21. court — for sport
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. degree — from a university
  24. cold — an illness

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