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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: cold · craft · degree · rush · root · chest · stock · ball

  1. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  2. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  3. The King held a masked ________________.
  4. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  5. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  6. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  9. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  10. That must've been a ________________.
  11. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  12. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  17. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  18. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  19. The ________________ market has crashed.
  20. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  21. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  24. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — temperature
  2. ball — a great time
  3. ball — a dance
  4. craft — a skill
  5. craft — a handicraft
  6. chest — of your body
  7. degree — an amount
  8. root — of a plant
  9. ball — a round shape
  10. rush — a thrill
  11. root — of a word
  12. rush — to hurry
  13. cold — an illness
  14. degree — from a university
  15. cold — not warm
  16. chest — a box
  17. stock — a soup base
  18. root — the cause
  19. stock — shares
  20. rush — hurry
  21. stock — goods
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. chest — of your body
  24. craft — boats

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