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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.

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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 · mark · cold · press · squash · stock · scale · fork

  1. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  6. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  7. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  8. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  9. The ________________ market has crashed.
  10. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  11. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  14. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  15. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  16. Did you ________________ the button?
  17. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  18. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  19. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  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. mark — to pay attention
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. degree — from a university
  4. cold — an illness
  5. squash — the sport
  6. squash — the vegetable
  7. fork — a garden tool
  8. press — a publisher
  9. stock — shares
  10. scale — in music
  11. fork — to eat with
  12. degree — an amount
  13. squash — to crush
  14. mark — a trace
  15. press — newspapers
  16. press — to push
  17. scale — for weighing
  18. fork — in a road
  19. stock — a soup base
  20. cold — not warm
  21. scale — size or range
  22. degree — temperature
  23. mark — a grade
  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