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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: mine · bat · club · rest · degree · shower · season · race

  1. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  2. Did you ________________ the meat?
  3. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  4. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  5. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  6. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  7. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  8. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  9. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  10. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  11. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  18. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  19. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  20. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  21. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  24. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. race — the arms race
  2. season — to add flavour
  3. club — a group
  4. shower — to wash
  5. rest — a break
  6. season — in sport
  7. race — a contest
  8. mine — an explosive
  9. degree — from a university
  10. club — for golf
  11. club — for dancing
  12. degree — temperature
  13. mine — for digging
  14. bat — the animal
  15. rest — what's left
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. season — of the year
  18. race — humankind
  19. mine — belonging to me
  20. rest — what's left
  21. shower — a meteor shower
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. shower — rain
  24. degree — an amount

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