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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
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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: degree · file · capital · march · row · mug · stock · date

  1. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  2. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  3. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  4. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  5. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  6. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  7. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  10. The ________________ market has crashed.
  11. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  12. Where did you ________________ them?
  13. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  14. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  15. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  16. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  17. Have you settled on a ________________?
  18. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  19. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  20. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  21. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  22. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  23. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  24. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.

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

Answer key

  1. mug — a face
  2. row — a line
  3. file — a tool
  4. capital — money
  5. march — the month
  6. row — to paddle
  7. row — a quarrel
  8. degree — temperature
  9. date — on the calendar
  10. stock — shares
  11. date — the fruit
  12. mug — to rob
  13. degree — an amount
  14. file — a document
  15. file — a line of people
  16. capital — a big letter
  17. date — on the calendar
  18. stock — a soup base
  19. capital — a city
  20. degree — from a university
  21. march — the month
  22. mug — a cup
  23. stock — goods
  24. march — music

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