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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 · face · cold · saw · bat · stock · bank · scale

  1. The ________________ market has crashed.
  2. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  5. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  6. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  7. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  8. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  9. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. He works in a ________________ mill.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  14. She's very handy with a ________________.
  15. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  16. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  17. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  18. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  19. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  20. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  23. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — shares
  2. bank — of a river
  3. bat — for baseball
  4. bank — for money
  5. face — part of the head
  6. stock — a soup base
  7. face — to confront
  8. scale — in music
  9. race — a contest
  10. cold — not warm
  11. saw — the tool
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. scale — for weighing
  14. saw — the tool
  15. face — to point toward
  16. stock — goods
  17. bat — the animal
  18. race — humankind
  19. scale — size or range
  20. race — the arms race
  21. cold — an illness
  22. saw — past of 'see'
  23. bank — for money
  24. cold — the Cold War

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