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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: row · ball · rule · shower · cold · chip

  1. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  3. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  6. The King held a masked ________________.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  11. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  12. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  13. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  14. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  15. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  16. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  17. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  18. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. rule — government
  3. shower — rain
  4. cold — not warm
  5. chip — in a computer
  6. ball — a dance
  7. cold — an illness
  8. ball — a round shape
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. chip — to eat
  11. ball — a great time
  12. rule — a law
  13. row — a quarrel
  14. rule — to rule out
  15. chip — for betting
  16. row — a line
  17. row — to paddle
  18. shower — a meteor shower

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