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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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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: kid · content · bear · stock · file · degree · mate · mine

  1. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  2. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  3. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  4. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  5. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  6. The ________________ market has crashed.
  7. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  8. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  9. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. Have you found your soul ________________?
  12. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  13. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  14. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  15. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  16. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  17. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  18. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  19. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  20. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  23. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  24. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  2. mine — an explosive
  3. mine — belonging to me
  4. bear — the animal
  5. content — the amount
  6. stock — shares
  7. bear — the animal
  8. file — a document
  9. stock — a soup base
  10. degree — temperature
  11. mate — a partner
  12. mine — for digging
  13. bear — to put up with
  14. content — happy
  15. mate — to breed
  16. stock — goods
  17. kid — to tease
  18. mate — a friend
  19. file — a line of people
  20. kid — child
  21. degree — an amount
  22. content — videos and posts
  23. degree — from a university
  24. file — a tool

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