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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: band · race · stock · land · current · degree · rule · hand

  1. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  2. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  3. When are we going to ________________?
  4. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  5. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  6. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  7. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  8. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  9. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  10. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  11. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  12. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  15. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  16. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  17. The ________________ market has crashed.
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  19. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  20. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  21. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  22. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  23. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  24. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.

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

Answer key

  1. race — the arms race
  2. current — electric
  3. land — to come down
  4. current — happening now
  5. race — humankind
  6. rule — a law
  7. stock — goods
  8. band — a ring
  9. hand — in cards
  10. land — a country
  11. land — ground
  12. band — a music group
  13. degree — temperature
  14. race — a contest
  15. hand — part of the body
  16. stock — a soup base
  17. stock — shares
  18. degree — from a university
  19. current — of water
  20. hand — help
  21. rule — to rule out
  22. degree — an amount
  23. rule — government
  24. band — a rubber band

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