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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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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: shower · stem · race · racket · cold · saw

  1. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  3. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  4. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  5. She's very handy with a ________________.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. He works in a ________________ mill.
  8. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  9. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  12. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  15. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  16. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  17. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  18. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. racket — for tennis
  3. racket — a loud noise
  4. stem — to come from
  5. saw — the tool
  6. cold — not warm
  7. saw — the tool
  8. race — the arms race
  9. shower — a meteor shower
  10. cold — an illness
  11. race — a contest
  12. stem — a stem cell
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. saw — past of 'see'
  15. shower — rain
  16. race — humankind
  17. racket — for tennis
  18. stem — of a plant

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