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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.

Words on the sheet
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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: game · wind · bark · coach · mine · degree · wound · stock

  1. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  2. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  3. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  4. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  5. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  6. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  7. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  8. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  9. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  10. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  13. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  14. Have you met the new head ________________?
  15. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  16. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  17. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  18. The ________________ market has crashed.
  19. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  20. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  21. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  22. That was a fun ________________.
  23. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  24. He was blown up by a land ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — a soup base
  2. coach — a trainer
  3. game — wild animals
  4. mine — for digging
  5. wound — an injury
  6. wound — past of 'wind'
  7. bark — to shout
  8. wound — an injury
  9. degree — from a university
  10. mine — belonging to me
  11. degree — temperature
  12. wind — moving air
  13. bark — a dog's sound
  14. coach — a trainer
  15. wind — moving air
  16. game — a kind of play
  17. wind — to turn a key
  18. stock — shares
  19. stock — goods
  20. coach — pulled by horses
  21. bark — of a tree
  22. game — a match
  23. degree — an amount
  24. mine — an explosive

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