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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: racket · present · stock · degree · chair · bat · spell · ground

  1. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. How do you ________________ your surname?
  3. There's no middle ________________.
  4. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  5. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  6. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  7. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  8. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  11. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  12. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  13. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  14. The ________________ market has crashed.
  15. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  16. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  22. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  23. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  24. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. spell — letters
  3. ground — a position
  4. spell — a short time
  5. racket — for tennis
  6. present — there
  7. racket — for tennis
  8. ground — the earth
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. chair — a professorship
  11. chair — a leader
  12. stock — a soup base
  13. racket — a loud noise
  14. stock — shares
  15. spell — magic
  16. ground — crushed
  17. degree — temperature
  18. stock — goods
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. bat — the animal
  21. present — a gift
  22. chair — to sit on
  23. present — the time now
  24. degree — an amount

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