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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: spell · race · mine · shower · mouse · stock · track · bat

  1. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  2. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  3. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  4. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  5. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  6. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  7. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  10. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  11. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  14. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  15. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  16. The ________________ market has crashed.
  17. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  18. How do you ________________ your surname?
  19. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  20. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  21. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  24. We took cover from the thunder ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. track — a song
  2. mine — for digging
  3. race — a contest
  4. stock — a soup base
  5. mouse — the animal
  6. bat — for baseball
  7. track — a path
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. shower — to wash
  10. race — humankind
  11. race — the arms race
  12. bat — the animal
  13. track — to keep track
  14. spell — magic
  15. mine — belonging to me
  16. stock — shares
  17. mouse — the animal
  18. spell — letters
  19. mine — an explosive
  20. spell — a short time
  21. mouse — for a computer
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. stock — goods
  24. shower — rain

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