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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: shower · stand · band · bore · field · rash · leaves · cold

  1. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  2. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  3. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  4. I can't ________________ this cold.
  5. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  6. Don't do anything ________________.
  7. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  10. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  11. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  12. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  17. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  18. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  19. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  20. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  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. leaves — lets stay
  2. bore — to drill
  3. band — a rubber band
  4. stand — to bear
  5. leaves — of a tree
  6. rash — hasty
  7. band — a ring
  8. field — farmland
  9. bore — to tire
  10. leaves — to go away
  11. rash — a series
  12. shower — rain
  13. field — a subject
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. cold — not warm
  16. rash — on the skin
  17. band — a music group
  18. shower — to wash
  19. stand — for spectators
  20. bore — gave birth
  21. field — for sport
  22. stand — on your feet
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  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