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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 · dip · band · bore · chair · squash · hand · cabinet

  1. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  2. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  3. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  4. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  5. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  6. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  7. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  8. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  9. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  10. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  11. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  12. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  13. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  14. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  15. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  16. What do you think of the new ________________?
  17. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  18. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  19. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  20. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  21. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  22. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  24. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a music group
  2. bore — to tire
  3. bore — gave birth
  4. shower — to wash
  5. hand — part of the body
  6. bore — to drill
  7. chair — to sit on
  8. dip — to dunk
  9. shower — rain
  10. chair — a professorship
  11. band — a rubber band
  12. dip — a sauce
  13. cabinet — a cupboard
  14. hand — help
  15. squash — the vegetable
  16. cabinet — ministers
  17. hand — in cards
  18. squash — the sport
  19. dip — to sink
  20. cabinet — ministers
  21. chair — a leader
  22. squash — to crush
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  24. band — a ring

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