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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.

Words on the sheet
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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: race · bat · cold · mug · bark · band · shower · stock

  1. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  2. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  5. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  6. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  7. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  8. The ________________ market has crashed.
  9. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  10. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  13. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  14. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  17. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  20. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. Where did you ________________ them?
  23. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  24. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mug — a face
  2. stock — a soup base
  3. cold — not warm
  4. bat — for baseball
  5. bark — a dog's sound
  6. race — a contest
  7. band — a music group
  8. stock — shares
  9. bark — to shout
  10. band — a rubber band
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. race — humankind
  13. race — the arms race
  14. shower — to wash
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. shower — a meteor shower
  17. bat — the animal
  18. cold — an illness
  19. bark — of a tree
  20. stock — goods
  21. shower — rain
  22. mug — to rob
  23. mug — a cup
  24. band — a ring

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