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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: bay · chest · cold · degree · lean · saw · deal · stock

  1. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  2. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  5. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. She's very handy with a ________________.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. He works in a ________________ mill.
  10. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  11. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  12. My mare is ________________ in color.
  13. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  16. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  17. The ________________ market has crashed.
  18. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  21. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  22. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — to bend
  2. chest — a box
  3. cold — an illness
  4. bay — a part of the sea
  5. lean — to rest against
  6. degree — an amount
  7. saw — the tool
  8. cold — not warm
  9. saw — the tool
  10. stock — goods
  11. chest — of your body
  12. bay — a horse colour
  13. chest — of your body
  14. degree — from a university
  15. lean — thin
  16. stock — a soup base
  17. stock — shares
  18. deal — a big deal
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. bay — to keep at bay
  21. deal — an agreement
  22. deal — to handle
  23. degree — temperature
  24. saw — past of 'see'

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