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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
468
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: band · clip · coach · degree · stock · temple · cold · arm

  1. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  5. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. My father caught me by the ________________.
  9. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  10. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  11. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  12. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. Have you met the new head ________________?
  15. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  20. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. The ________________ market has crashed.
  23. When was this ________________ built?
  24. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — goods
  2. cold — not warm
  3. clip — a video
  4. coach — pulled by horses
  5. temple — side of the head
  6. degree — an amount
  7. degree — from a university
  8. arm — part of the body
  9. arm — part of the body
  10. stock — a soup base
  11. band — a music group
  12. band — a ring
  13. degree — temperature
  14. coach — a trainer
  15. temple — a place of worship
  16. cold — an illness
  17. clip — for paper
  18. clip — to cut
  19. band — a rubber band
  20. coach — a trainer
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. stock — shares
  23. temple — a place of worship
  24. arm — a part of something

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