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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 120 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: key · shower · cap · stock · wind · race · season · bat

  1. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  2. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  3. The ________________ market has crashed.
  4. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  5. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  6. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  7. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. Did you ________________ the meat?
  10. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  11. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  12. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  13. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  14. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  15. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  18. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  19. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  20. This piece is in a major ________________.
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  23. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  24. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?

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

Answer key

  1. race — the arms race
  2. race — humankind
  3. stock — shares
  4. stock — goods
  5. season — of the year
  6. shower — to wash
  7. wind — to turn a key
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. season — to add flavour
  10. bat — the animal
  11. wind — moving air
  12. shower — a meteor shower
  13. stock — a soup base
  14. key — for a lock
  15. key — the most important part
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. season — in sport
  18. wind — moving air
  19. cap — of ice
  20. key — in music
  21. shower — rain
  22. race — a contest
  23. cap — a hat
  24. cap — a lid

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