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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. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  2. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  3. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  4. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  5. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  6. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  7. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  8. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. That was a fun ________________.
  11. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  12. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  13. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  14. The ________________ market has crashed.
  15. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  16. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  17. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  18. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  19. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  20. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  21. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  22. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  23. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  24. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — a soup base
  2. race — a contest
  3. race — humankind
  4. degree — temperature
  5. game — wild animals
  6. wind — to turn a key
  7. snap — to snap out of it
  8. snap — to speak sharply
  9. degree — an amount
  10. game — a match
  11. hide — to keep secret
  12. snap — to click
  13. stock — goods
  14. stock — shares
  15. degree — from a university
  16. stick — to attach or keep to
  17. wind — moving air
  18. wind — moving air
  19. hide — animal skin
  20. stick — a piece of wood
  21. stick — a piece of wood
  22. hide — to keep secret
  23. game — a kind of play
  24. race — the arms race

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