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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: bass · bat · stock · march · cold · current · temple · bark

  1. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  6. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  7. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  8. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  9. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  14. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  15. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  16. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  17. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. When was this ________________ built?
  20. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  21. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  24. The ________________ market has crashed.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — the fish
  2. bat — the animal
  3. current — electric
  4. cold — an illness
  5. current — of water
  6. temple — side of the head
  7. temple — a place of worship
  8. current — happening now
  9. bass — low music
  10. cold — not warm
  11. stock — goods
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. bass — the instrument
  14. bark — a dog's sound
  15. march — music
  16. march — the month
  17. bark — to shout
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. temple — a place of worship
  20. stock — a soup base
  21. bark — of a tree
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. march — the month
  24. stock — shares

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