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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. The ________________ market has crashed.
  2. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  3. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  4. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  7. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  8. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  9. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  13. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  14. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  15. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  16. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  17. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  18. The ________________ took off on time.
  19. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  20. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  23. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  24. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — shares
  2. vault — a safe
  3. face — to point toward
  4. vault — an arched ceiling
  5. degree — from a university
  6. stock — a soup base
  7. plane — a tool
  8. face — to confront
  9. drill — army training
  10. chest — a box
  11. degree — an amount
  12. chest — of your body
  13. stock — goods
  14. plane — in geometry
  15. drill — the tool
  16. shower — to wash
  17. shower — a meteor shower
  18. plane — an aircraft
  19. drill — a practice
  20. chest — of your body
  21. shower — rain
  22. vault — in gymnastics
  23. face — part of the head
  24. degree — temperature

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