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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 120 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: lash · stock · chair · ground · file · degree · court · kick

  1. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  2. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  3. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  6. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  7. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  8. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  9. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  10. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  11. The ball is in your ________________.
  12. The ________________ market has crashed.
  13. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  14. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  15. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  18. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  19. There's no middle ________________.
  20. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  21. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  22. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  23. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  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. file — a tool
  2. kick — with a leg
  3. stock — goods
  4. degree — an amount
  5. kick — a thrill
  6. chair — a professorship
  7. chair — a leader
  8. file — a line of people
  9. lash — to lash out
  10. chair — to sit on
  11. court — for sport
  12. stock — shares
  13. stock — a soup base
  14. ground — the earth
  15. kick — in football
  16. degree — from a university
  17. lash — a whip stroke
  18. file — a document
  19. ground — a position
  20. court — of law
  21. lash — an eyelash
  22. ground — crushed
  23. court — of a king
  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