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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. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  3. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. The ________________ market has crashed.
  8. When will it ________________ you to start?
  9. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  10. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  15. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  16. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  20. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  21. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  24. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. stock — goods
  3. craft — boats
  4. land — to come down
  5. craft — a handicraft
  6. degree — temperature
  7. stock — shares
  8. suit — to fit
  9. craft — a skill
  10. suit — in cards
  11. degree — an amount
  12. stock — a soup base
  13. cold — an illness
  14. file — a tool
  15. land — a country
  16. prune — to trim
  17. degree — from a university
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. prune — to trim
  20. file — a line of people
  21. prune — the fruit
  22. cold — not warm
  23. suit — clothes
  24. file — a document

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