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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 · drill · sharp · key · degree · fall · cold · pop

  1. You don't need to ________________ round.
  2. It's one o'clock ________________.
  3. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  6. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  7. The ________________ market has crashed.
  8. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  9. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  13. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  14. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  15. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  16. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  17. This piece is in a major ________________.
  18. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  19. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  20. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  21. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  22. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. We're almost out of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — to visit
  2. sharp — exactly
  3. drill — the tool
  4. cold — an illness
  5. fall — to drop
  6. stock — a soup base
  7. stock — shares
  8. key — for a lock
  9. drill — a practice
  10. cold — not warm
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. fall — to drop
  13. stock — goods
  14. drill — army training
  15. key — the most important part
  16. fall — the season
  17. key — in music
  18. sharp — with an edge
  19. degree — an amount
  20. degree — from a university
  21. pop — music
  22. sharp — clever
  23. degree — temperature
  24. pop — soda

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