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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: bass · firm · march · last · stock · degree · cell · key

  1. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  3. False peace will not ________________.
  4. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  5. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  6. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  11. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  12. The ________________ market has crashed.
  13. He was locked up in a ________________.
  14. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  15. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  16. This piece is in a major ________________.
  17. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  18. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  19. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  20. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  21. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  22. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. last — final
  2. key — for a lock
  3. last — to go on
  4. firm — decided
  5. march — the month
  6. firm — steady
  7. degree — from a university
  8. bass — low music
  9. degree — an amount
  10. march — the month
  11. stock — a soup base
  12. stock — shares
  13. cell — in a prison
  14. stock — goods
  15. bass — the fish
  16. key — in music
  17. march — music
  18. bass — the instrument
  19. cell — in biology
  20. last — finally
  21. key — the most important part
  22. cell — a phone
  23. degree — temperature
  24. firm — a company

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