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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 supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  2. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  3. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  4. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  5. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  6. When are we going to ________________?
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  9. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  10. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  11. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  12. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  13. The ________________ market has crashed.
  14. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  15. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  20. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  21. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?

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

Answer key

  1. stock — goods
  2. chair — a leader
  3. bark — of a tree
  4. bark — a dog's sound
  5. chair — to sit on
  6. land — to come down
  7. degree — temperature
  8. stock — a soup base
  9. land — a country
  10. bark — to shout
  11. chair — a professorship
  12. land — ground
  13. stock — shares
  14. spring — of water
  15. present — the time now
  16. spring — a coil
  17. degree — an amount
  18. cold — not warm
  19. present — there
  20. degree — from a university
  21. spring — the season
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. cold — an illness
  24. present — a gift

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