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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: tear · stock · bark · degree · content · field · racket · rule

  1. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. The ________________ market has crashed.
  6. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  9. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  10. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  11. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  12. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  13. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  14. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  18. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  19. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  20. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  21. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  22. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — a soup base
  2. content — happy
  3. stock — goods
  4. degree — from a university
  5. stock — shares
  6. content — the amount
  7. degree — an amount
  8. racket — a loud noise
  9. tear — from crying
  10. tear — from crying
  11. racket — for tennis
  12. rule — government
  13. rule — to rule out
  14. content — videos and posts
  15. field — a subject
  16. degree — temperature
  17. rule — a law
  18. tear — to rip
  19. racket — for tennis
  20. bark — a dog's sound
  21. field — farmland
  22. bark — to shout
  23. field — for sport
  24. bark — of a tree

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