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

Word bank: chair · shower · racket · cold · race · patient

  1. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  2. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  3. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  4. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  9. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  10. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  11. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  12. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  15. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  16. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  17. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  18. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. racket — for tennis
  2. patient — a sick person
  3. shower — rain
  4. race — the arms race
  5. cold — an illness
  6. chair — a professorship
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. race — humankind
  9. chair — a leader
  10. patient — a sick person
  11. shower — to wash
  12. racket — for tennis
  13. cold — not warm
  14. shower — a meteor shower
  15. patient — calm and waiting
  16. race — a contest
  17. chair — to sit on
  18. racket — a loud noise

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