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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.

Words on the sheet
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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: cold · ground · snap · shower · net · stock · file · degree

  1. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  2. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  3. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  4. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  9. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  10. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  11. There's no middle ________________.
  12. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  13. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. The ________________ market has crashed.
  16. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  17. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  18. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. He's taking a ________________ right now.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. net — for catching
  3. file — a document
  4. ground — crushed
  5. degree — temperature
  6. snap — to speak sharply
  7. degree — from a university
  8. net — in sport
  9. file — a tool
  10. shower — a meteor shower
  11. ground — a position
  12. ground — the earth
  13. file — a line of people
  14. cold — not warm
  15. stock — shares
  16. snap — to click
  17. stock — a soup base
  18. stock — goods
  19. cold — an illness
  20. shower — rain
  21. degree — an amount
  22. snap — to snap out of it
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. shower — to wash

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