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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: spring · nail · cold · degree · net · foot · stock · saw

  1. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. The ________________ market has crashed.
  3. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  4. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  5. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  8. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  9. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  10. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  11. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  12. He works in a ________________ mill.
  13. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  14. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  15. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  16. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  17. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  18. The ________________ went through the wall.
  19. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  20. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  21. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. She's very handy with a ________________.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. stock — shares
  3. degree — temperature
  4. spring — the season
  5. stock — a soup base
  6. cold — an illness
  7. nail — for a hammer
  8. foot — the bottom
  9. saw — past of 'see'
  10. spring — a coil
  11. net — in sport
  12. saw — the tool
  13. stock — goods
  14. foot — part of the body
  15. spring — of water
  16. foot — a measure
  17. net — after costs
  18. nail — for a hammer
  19. degree — from a university
  20. net — for catching
  21. nail — on a finger
  22. cold — not warm
  23. saw — the tool
  24. cold — the Cold War

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