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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 supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  2. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  3. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  4. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  5. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  8. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  9. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  10. I'll be taking the ________________.
  11. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  12. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  15. The ________________ market has crashed.
  16. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  17. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  18. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  19. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  20. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  21. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  22. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  23. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  24. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — goods
  2. file — a line of people
  3. stock — a soup base
  4. deal — to handle
  5. tear — to rip
  6. degree — an amount
  7. deal — a big deal
  8. tear — from crying
  9. shower — to wash
  10. tube — the underground
  11. deal — an agreement
  12. current — happening now
  13. degree — temperature
  14. shower — a meteor shower
  15. stock — shares
  16. current — of water
  17. tube — in a tire
  18. current — electric
  19. shower — rain
  20. file — a document
  21. file — a tool
  22. tear — from crying
  23. tube — a container
  24. degree — from a university

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