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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: stock · swing · cold · spell · sharp · race · roll · bass

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  3. It's one o'clock ________________.
  4. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  5. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  6. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  7. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  8. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  9. How do you ________________ your surname?
  10. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  11. David sat on the ________________.
  12. The ________________ market has crashed.
  13. We're on a ________________ here.
  14. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  15. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  16. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  17. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  18. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  19. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  20. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  23. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. roll — a cake
  3. sharp — exactly
  4. bass — low music
  5. bass — the instrument
  6. swing — in golf
  7. sharp — with an edge
  8. stock — goods
  9. spell — letters
  10. race — humankind
  11. swing — to play on
  12. stock — shares
  13. roll — on a roll
  14. race — a contest
  15. bass — the fish
  16. spell — a short time
  17. spell — magic
  18. stock — a soup base
  19. swing — music
  20. race — the arms race
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. roll — a list
  23. sharp — clever
  24. cold — an illness

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