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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 116 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: field · racket · hide · cold · degree · stock · lean · content

  1. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. The ________________ market has crashed.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  5. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  6. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  11. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  14. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  15. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  16. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  17. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  18. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  19. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  20. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  21. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  22. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. stock — shares
  3. field — farmland
  4. racket — for tennis
  5. racket — a loud noise
  6. lean — to rest against
  7. field — a subject
  8. hide — animal skin
  9. cold — not warm
  10. hide — to keep secret
  11. field — for sport
  12. cold — an illness
  13. lean — to bend
  14. hide — to keep secret
  15. degree — from a university
  16. content — videos and posts
  17. degree — an amount
  18. stock — a soup base
  19. lean — thin
  20. content — happy
  21. racket — for tennis
  22. content — the amount
  23. degree — temperature
  24. stock — goods

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