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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 124 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: hand · court · ruler · degree · suit · stock · date · clip

  1. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  3. When will it ________________ you to start?
  4. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  5. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  6. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  7. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  8. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  9. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  12. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  13. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  14. The ________________ market has crashed.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  17. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  18. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  21. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  22. The ball is in your ________________.
  23. Have you settled on a ________________?
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. date — the fruit
  3. suit — to fit
  4. ruler — for measuring
  5. stock — goods
  6. suit — in cards
  7. hand — in cards
  8. degree — an amount
  9. ruler — a monarch
  10. clip — a video
  11. court — of law
  12. stock — a soup base
  13. suit — clothes
  14. stock — shares
  15. degree — temperature
  16. date — on the calendar
  17. hand — help
  18. court — of a king
  19. clip — to cut
  20. ruler — for measuring
  21. hand — part of the body
  22. court — for sport
  23. date — on the calendar
  24. clip — for paper

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