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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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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: mine · lie · cold · race · land · snap · chip · stock

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  5. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  6. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  7. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  8. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  9. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  10. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  11. When are we going to ________________?
  12. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  15. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  16. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  17. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  18. The ________________ market has crashed.
  19. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  20. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  21. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  22. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  23. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  24. She's sitting on a gold ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. snap — to speak sharply
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. chip — in a computer
  5. stock — a soup base
  6. lie — an untruth
  7. chip — to eat
  8. mine — an explosive
  9. snap — to snap out of it
  10. land — a country
  11. land — to come down
  12. chip — for betting
  13. cold — an illness
  14. lie — an untruth
  15. snap — to click
  16. mine — belonging to me
  17. race — humankind
  18. stock — shares
  19. land — ground
  20. race — a contest
  21. race — the arms race
  22. stock — goods
  23. lie — to recline
  24. mine — for digging

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