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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: bear · degree · key · chip · stock · wind · net · tear

  1. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  2. The ________________ market has crashed.
  3. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  4. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  7. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  10. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  11. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  12. This piece is in a major ________________.
  13. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  14. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  15. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  18. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  19. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  20. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  21. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  22. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  23. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  24. A black ________________ roamed the forest.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. stock — shares
  3. tear — from crying
  4. chip — to eat
  5. degree — an amount
  6. key — for a lock
  7. chip — for betting
  8. degree — temperature
  9. net — in sport
  10. key — the most important part
  11. net — for catching
  12. key — in music
  13. chip — in a computer
  14. bear — to put up with
  15. wind — moving air
  16. degree — from a university
  17. wind — to turn a key
  18. wind — moving air
  19. stock — goods
  20. stock — a soup base
  21. bear — the animal
  22. tear — to rip
  23. tear — from crying
  24. bear — the animal

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