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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: bat · stock · ground · bulb · wind · mate · band · race

  1. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  2. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  3. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  4. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  5. Have you found your soul ________________?
  6. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  7. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  8. I've got to change the light ________________.
  9. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  10. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  11. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  12. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  13. There's no middle ________________.
  14. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  15. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  16. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  17. The ________________ market has crashed.
  18. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  19. The light ________________ burned out.
  20. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  21. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. race — a contest
  3. wind — moving air
  4. race — the arms race
  5. mate — a partner
  6. stock — a soup base
  7. band — a rubber band
  8. bulb — for light
  9. race — humankind
  10. ground — the earth
  11. ground — crushed
  12. bulb — of a plant
  13. ground — a position
  14. mate — a friend
  15. mate — to breed
  16. wind — to turn a key
  17. stock — shares
  18. stock — goods
  19. bulb — for light
  20. band — a music group
  21. bat — the animal
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. band — a ring
  24. bat — in an idiom

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