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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. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  4. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  10. When are we going to ________________?
  11. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  12. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  16. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  17. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  18. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  21. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  24. I'll be taking the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — shares
  2. bat — the animal
  3. land — a country
  4. land — ground
  5. degree — from a university
  6. degree — temperature
  7. degree — an amount
  8. clip — to cut
  9. bass — the instrument
  10. land — to come down
  11. band — a music group
  12. bass — low music
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. band — a ring
  16. band — a rubber band
  17. stock — a soup base
  18. stock — goods
  19. clip — a video
  20. tube — in a tire
  21. tube — a container
  22. clip — for paper
  23. bass — the fish
  24. tube — the underground

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