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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: shower · pit · wake · racket · cold · straw · band · cabinet

  1. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  2. What do you think of the new ________________?
  3. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  4. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  5. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  6. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  7. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  8. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  9. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  10. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  15. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  16. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  17. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  18. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  21. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  22. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  23. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  24. Boris sat near the fire ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — a straw man
  2. cabinet — ministers
  3. racket — for tennis
  4. cabinet — a cupboard
  5. racket — a loud noise
  6. band — a music group
  7. wake — before a funeral
  8. band — a ring
  9. shower — to wash
  10. wake — to stop sleeping
  11. cold — not warm
  12. racket — for tennis
  13. cold — an illness
  14. cabinet — ministers
  15. shower — rain
  16. wake — a trail
  17. pit — a fruit stone
  18. straw — dry grass
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. shower — a meteor shower
  21. band — a rubber band
  22. pit — in a race
  23. straw — to clutch at straws
  24. pit — a hole

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