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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 · cold · race · tube · bear · bay · pound · ball

  1. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  2. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  3. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  4. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  5. The King held a masked ________________.
  6. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  7. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  8. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  9. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  10. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  11. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  14. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  15. I'll be taking the ________________.
  16. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  17. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  18. My mare is ________________ in color.
  19. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  20. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  24. The kitten curled into a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pound — to hit hard
  2. race — a contest
  3. bay — to keep at bay
  4. race — the arms race
  5. ball — a dance
  6. bear — the animal
  7. bay — a part of the sea
  8. shower — rain
  9. shower — a meteor shower
  10. bear — to put up with
  11. tube — a container
  12. cold — an illness
  13. tube — in a tire
  14. shower — to wash
  15. tube — the underground
  16. ball — a great time
  17. pound — a weight
  18. bay — a horse colour
  19. pound — for dogs
  20. bear — the animal
  21. cold — not warm
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. race — humankind
  24. ball — a round shape

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