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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: cabinet · rash · date · coach · field · cold · staff · shower

  1. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  2. What do you think of the new ________________?
  3. Don't do anything ________________.
  4. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  5. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  8. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  9. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. Have you settled on a ________________?
  12. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  13. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  16. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  17. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  18. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  19. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  20. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  21. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  22. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  23. Have you met the new head ________________?
  24. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.

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

Answer key

  1. staff — employees
  2. cabinet — ministers
  3. rash — hasty
  4. coach — pulled by horses
  5. date — the fruit
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. cabinet — a cupboard
  8. cabinet — ministers
  9. shower — rain
  10. cold — an illness
  11. date — on the calendar
  12. rash — on the skin
  13. shower — to wash
  14. cold — not warm
  15. field — farmland
  16. shower — a meteor shower
  17. field — a subject
  18. staff — a stick
  19. staff — employees
  20. field — for sport
  21. date — on the calendar
  22. coach — a trainer
  23. coach — a trainer
  24. rash — a series

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