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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: pop · bound · degree · land · clip · bulb · stock · mine

  1. The ________________ market has crashed.
  2. That was ________________ to happen.
  3. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  6. When are we going to ________________?
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  9. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  10. The light ________________ burned out.
  11. You don't need to ________________ round.
  12. I've got to change the light ________________.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  15. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  18. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  19. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  20. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  21. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  24. We're almost out of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — shares
  2. bound — certain
  3. land — a country
  4. degree — from a university
  5. mine — belonging to me
  6. land — to come down
  7. clip — to cut
  8. mine — for digging
  9. pop — music
  10. bulb — for light
  11. pop — to visit
  12. bulb — for light
  13. clip — for paper
  14. bound — obliged
  15. degree — an amount
  16. clip — a video
  17. bulb — of a plant
  18. stock — a soup base
  19. land — ground
  20. stock — goods
  21. bound — tied together
  22. degree — temperature
  23. mine — an explosive
  24. pop — soda

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