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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: stock · staff · pit · spell · wax · straw · game · degree

  1. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. The ________________ market has crashed.
  3. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  4. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  5. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  6. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  7. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  8. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  9. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  10. How do you ________________ your surname?
  11. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  12. That was a fun ________________.
  13. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  16. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  19. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  20. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  21. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  22. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  23. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  24. What's the difference between broth and ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. stock — shares
  3. game — wild animals
  4. pit — a fruit stone
  5. game — a kind of play
  6. wax — for sculpting
  7. wax — in the ear
  8. wax — to grow
  9. pit — a hole
  10. spell — letters
  11. spell — a short time
  12. game — a match
  13. straw — a straw man
  14. degree — temperature
  15. straw — dry grass
  16. spell — magic
  17. degree — from a university
  18. straw — to clutch at straws
  19. stock — goods
  20. pit — in a race
  21. staff — employees
  22. staff — employees
  23. staff — a stick
  24. stock — a soup base

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