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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: last · cold · rush · press · stock · race · kid · court

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  3. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  4. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  5. False peace will not ________________.
  6. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  7. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  8. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  9. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  10. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  11. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  12. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  13. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  14. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  15. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  16. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  17. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  18. The ________________ market has crashed.
  19. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. Did you ________________ the button?
  23. The ball is in your ________________.
  24. That must've been a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. court — of law
  3. kid — to tease
  4. press — newspapers
  5. last — to go on
  6. press — a publisher
  7. last — final
  8. rush — to hurry
  9. stock — goods
  10. court — of a king
  11. stock — a soup base
  12. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  13. race — humankind
  14. last — finally
  15. race — the arms race
  16. race — a contest
  17. rush — hurry
  18. stock — shares
  19. kid — child
  20. cold — an illness
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. press — to push
  23. court — for sport
  24. rush — a thrill

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