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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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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: wind · club · stock · wound · chair · race · lean · band

  1. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  2. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  3. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  4. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  5. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  6. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  7. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  8. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  9. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  10. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  11. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  12. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  13. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  14. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  15. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  16. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  17. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  18. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  19. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  20. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  21. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  22. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  23. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  24. The ________________ market has crashed.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — to bend
  2. club — for dancing
  3. chair — a professorship
  4. wind — to turn a key
  5. race — humankind
  6. lean — thin
  7. chair — a leader
  8. race — a contest
  9. wound — past of 'wind'
  10. stock — a soup base
  11. wound — an injury
  12. club — a group
  13. race — the arms race
  14. wind — moving air
  15. wind — moving air
  16. band — a rubber band
  17. chair — to sit on
  18. club — for golf
  19. band — a ring
  20. band — a music group
  21. lean — to rest against
  22. stock — goods
  23. wound — an injury
  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