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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: press · shower · net · cold · pound · kid · stem · bore

  1. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  2. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  3. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  4. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  5. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  8. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  9. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  10. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  11. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  12. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  13. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  14. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  15. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  16. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  19. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  20. Did you ________________ the button?
  21. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  22. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  23. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  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. pound — a weight
  2. pound — to hit hard
  3. pound — for dogs
  4. net — in sport
  5. press — a publisher
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. bore — to drill
  8. kid — child
  9. shower — rain
  10. bore — to tire
  11. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  12. kid — to tease
  13. shower — a meteor shower
  14. net — after costs
  15. press — newspapers
  16. stem — of a plant
  17. cold — not warm
  18. stem — a stem cell
  19. stem — to come from
  20. press — to push
  21. bore — gave birth
  22. net — for catching
  23. shower — to wash
  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