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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: land · race · mug · chip · stock · shower · bat · trunk

  1. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  2. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  3. The ________________ market has crashed.
  4. Where did you ________________ them?
  5. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  6. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  7. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  8. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  9. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  10. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  11. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  12. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. When are we going to ________________?
  15. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  16. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  17. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  18. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  19. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  20. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  23. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  24. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — a soup base
  2. bat — in an idiom
  3. stock — shares
  4. mug — to rob
  5. shower — a meteor shower
  6. race — the arms race
  7. land — ground
  8. race — humankind
  9. trunk — of a car
  10. stock — goods
  11. mug — a cup
  12. trunk — of an elephant
  13. bat — the animal
  14. land — to come down
  15. trunk — of a tree
  16. chip — for betting
  17. mug — a face
  18. race — a contest
  19. shower — to wash
  20. chip — to eat
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. shower — rain
  23. chip — in a computer
  24. land — a country

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