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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: stock · fall · saw · sharp · cell · degree · court · present

  1. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  2. The ball is in your ________________.
  3. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  4. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  5. He works in a ________________ mill.
  6. It's one o'clock ________________.
  7. The ________________ market has crashed.
  8. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  9. She's very handy with a ________________.
  10. He was locked up in a ________________.
  11. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  12. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  13. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  14. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  15. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  18. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  19. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  20. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  21. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  24. What's the difference between broth and ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. present — there
  2. court — for sport
  3. fall — to drop
  4. court — of a king
  5. saw — the tool
  6. sharp — exactly
  7. stock — shares
  8. saw — past of 'see'
  9. saw — the tool
  10. cell — in a prison
  11. court — of law
  12. cell — a phone
  13. present — a gift
  14. fall — to drop
  15. sharp — clever
  16. degree — from a university
  17. degree — an amount
  18. fall — the season
  19. present — the time now
  20. cell — in biology
  21. stock — goods
  22. degree — temperature
  23. sharp — with an edge
  24. stock — a soup base

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