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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: board · file · stock · degree · field · racket · wound · wave

  1. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  4. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  5. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  11. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  12. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  13. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  14. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  15. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  16. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  17. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  18. The ________________ market has crashed.
  19. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  20. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  21. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  22. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  23. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  24. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

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

Answer key

  1. board — a committee
  2. degree — an amount
  3. board — a flat piece
  4. wave — a sudden rise
  5. racket — for tennis
  6. field — farmland
  7. degree — from a university
  8. racket — a loud noise
  9. field — a subject
  10. wave — with your hand
  11. field — for sport
  12. file — a line of people
  13. board — to get on
  14. wave — of the sea
  15. wound — past of 'wind'
  16. wound — an injury
  17. racket — for tennis
  18. stock — shares
  19. file — a document
  20. file — a tool
  21. wound — an injury
  22. stock — goods
  23. stock — a soup base
  24. degree — temperature

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