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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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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: mine · degree · snap · fork · file · deal · race · stock

  1. The ________________ market has crashed.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  4. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  5. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  6. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  7. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  10. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  11. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  12. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  13. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  14. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  15. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  16. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  17. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  18. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  19. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  20. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  21. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  22. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  23. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  24. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — shares
  2. degree — from a university
  3. deal — a big deal
  4. file — a line of people
  5. file — a tool
  6. mine — belonging to me
  7. snap — to click
  8. degree — temperature
  9. snap — to speak sharply
  10. race — a contest
  11. mine — for digging
  12. race — the arms race
  13. fork — to eat with
  14. deal — an agreement
  15. mine — an explosive
  16. degree — an amount
  17. deal — to handle
  18. race — humankind
  19. snap — to snap out of it
  20. stock — a soup base
  21. fork — a garden tool
  22. fork — in a road
  23. stock — goods
  24. file — a document

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