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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: degree · kid · trunk · race · staff · lash · stock · spell

  1. The ________________ market has crashed.
  2. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  5. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  6. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  7. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  8. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  9. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  10. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  11. How do you ________________ your surname?
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  14. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  15. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  16. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  17. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  18. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  21. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  22. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  23. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  24. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — shares
  2. kid — child
  3. degree — from a university
  4. lash — to lash out
  5. staff — a stick
  6. lash — an eyelash
  7. staff — employees
  8. trunk — of a car
  9. lash — a whip stroke
  10. kid — to tease
  11. spell — letters
  12. degree — an amount
  13. trunk — of an elephant
  14. race — the arms race
  15. stock — a soup base
  16. spell — a short time
  17. race — humankind
  18. stock — goods
  19. degree — temperature
  20. race — a contest
  21. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  22. trunk — of a tree
  23. spell — magic
  24. staff — employees

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