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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: fan · stock · face · bark · degree · net · cold · swing

  1. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  4. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  5. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  8. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  9. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  10. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  13. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  14. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  15. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  16. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  17. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  18. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  19. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  20. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  23. The ________________ market has crashed.
  24. David sat on the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — of a tree
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. fan — a supporter
  4. swing — in golf
  5. face — to confront
  6. degree — temperature
  7. stock — goods
  8. face — to point toward
  9. stock — a soup base
  10. net — in sport
  11. cold — an illness
  12. net — after costs
  13. net — for catching
  14. bark — a dog's sound
  15. degree — from a university
  16. fan — to cool the air
  17. bark — to shout
  18. swing — music
  19. degree — an amount
  20. face — part of the head
  21. cold — not warm
  22. fan — a supporter
  23. stock — shares
  24. swing — to play on

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