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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: march · stock · drill · rush · degree · dip · plane · race

  1. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  3. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  4. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  5. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  6. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  7. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  8. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  9. That must've been a ________________.
  10. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  11. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  12. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  15. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  16. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  17. The ________________ market has crashed.
  18. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  19. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  20. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  21. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  22. The ________________ took off on time.
  23. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  24. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. plane — in geometry
  3. rush — hurry
  4. march — music
  5. plane — a tool
  6. stock — a soup base
  7. march — the month
  8. rush — to hurry
  9. rush — a thrill
  10. drill — a practice
  11. dip — to sink
  12. stock — goods
  13. degree — temperature
  14. dip — to dunk
  15. race — humankind
  16. race — a contest
  17. stock — shares
  18. dip — a sauce
  19. drill — army training
  20. race — the arms race
  21. march — the month
  22. plane — an aircraft
  23. degree — from a university
  24. drill — the tool

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