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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. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  3. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  4. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  5. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  6. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  7. The ________________ market has crashed.
  8. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  11. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  14. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  15. There's no middle ________________.
  16. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  17. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  22. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  23. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. rest — what's left
  3. ground — the earth
  4. vault — an arched ceiling
  5. rock — music
  6. stock — goods
  7. stock — shares
  8. vault — a safe
  9. degree — an amount
  10. stock — a soup base
  11. rest — what's left
  12. degree — temperature
  13. ground — crushed
  14. rock — to move gently
  15. ground — a position
  16. pound — a weight
  17. pound — to hit hard
  18. clip — for paper
  19. pound — for dogs
  20. clip — a video
  21. rest — a break
  22. rock — a stone
  23. vault — in gymnastics
  24. clip — to cut

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