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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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  3. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  4. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  5. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  6. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  7. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  8. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  9. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  10. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  11. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  12. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  18. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  19. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  24. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. pound — for dogs
  3. hand — part of the body
  4. band — a rubber band
  5. bank — for money
  6. bank — for money
  7. hand — in cards
  8. shower — to wash
  9. racket — for tennis
  10. racket — for tennis
  11. bank — of a river
  12. racket — a loud noise
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. cold — not warm
  15. bat — the animal
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. shower — rain
  18. pound — to hit hard
  19. band — a ring
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. hand — help
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. band — a music group
  24. pound — a weight

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