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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: fork · stock · bass · face · degree · fall · roll · cold

  1. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  2. The ________________ market has crashed.
  3. We're on a ________________ here.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  7. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  8. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  9. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  10. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  13. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  14. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  15. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  16. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  17. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  18. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  19. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  20. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  21. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  22. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  23. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  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. fork — a garden tool
  2. stock — shares
  3. roll — on a roll
  4. cold — not warm
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. stock — goods
  7. face — to confront
  8. stock — a soup base
  9. bass — the instrument
  10. fall — the season
  11. cold — an illness
  12. fall — to drop
  13. bass — the fish
  14. fork — to eat with
  15. face — to point toward
  16. roll — a list
  17. fork — in a road
  18. degree — an amount
  19. face — part of the head
  20. degree — from a university
  21. fall — to drop
  22. roll — a cake
  23. bass — low music
  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