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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: race · season · shower · stock · file · trunk · lie · date

  1. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  2. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  3. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  4. Did you ________________ the meat?
  5. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  6. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  7. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  8. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  9. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  10. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  11. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  12. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  13. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  14. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  15. Have you settled on a ________________?
  16. The ________________ market has crashed.
  17. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  18. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  19. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  20. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  21. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  22. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  23. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  24. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. race — humankind
  2. season — of the year
  3. shower — to wash
  4. season — to add flavour
  5. lie — to recline
  6. date — the fruit
  7. file — a document
  8. season — in sport
  9. lie — an untruth
  10. trunk — of a car
  11. date — on the calendar
  12. race — the arms race
  13. stock — goods
  14. lie — an untruth
  15. date — on the calendar
  16. stock — shares
  17. stock — a soup base
  18. shower — a meteor shower
  19. race — a contest
  20. file — a tool
  21. trunk — of a tree
  22. trunk — of an elephant
  23. shower — rain
  24. file — a line of people

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