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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: stock · cold · season · mate · clip · lash · patient · race

  1. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  2. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  3. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  4. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  5. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  6. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  7. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  8. The ________________ market has crashed.
  9. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  10. Did you ________________ the meat?
  11. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  12. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  13. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  14. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  15. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  16. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. Have you found your soul ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. mate — to breed
  2. race — a contest
  3. patient — a sick person
  4. season — of the year
  5. stock — a soup base
  6. race — the arms race
  7. patient — a sick person
  8. stock — shares
  9. stock — goods
  10. season — to add flavour
  11. race — humankind
  12. lash — an eyelash
  13. lash — to lash out
  14. mate — a friend
  15. season — in sport
  16. patient — calm and waiting
  17. clip — for paper
  18. lash — a whip stroke
  19. clip — a video
  20. clip — to cut
  21. cold — an illness
  22. cold — not warm
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. mate — a partner

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