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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: squash · date · band · stock · cold · hide · race · lean

  1. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  2. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  3. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  4. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  5. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  6. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  7. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  8. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  9. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  13. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  14. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  15. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  16. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  17. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  18. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  19. The ________________ market has crashed.
  20. Have you settled on a ________________?
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  23. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  24. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a ring
  2. race — the arms race
  3. hide — animal skin
  4. hide — to keep secret
  5. squash — the vegetable
  6. squash — the sport
  7. lean — to bend
  8. date — the fruit
  9. hide — to keep secret
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. cold — an illness
  12. band — a rubber band
  13. stock — goods
  14. race — humankind
  15. date — on the calendar
  16. stock — a soup base
  17. squash — to crush
  18. lean — thin
  19. stock — shares
  20. date — on the calendar
  21. cold — not warm
  22. lean — to rest against
  23. band — a music group
  24. race — a contest

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