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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: game · band · stock · shower · bore · dip · can · cold

  1. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  2. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  3. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  4. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. That was a fun ________________.
  7. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  10. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  11. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  12. The ________________ market has crashed.
  13. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  14. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  15. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  16. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  17. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  20. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  21. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  22. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  23. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  24. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.

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

Answer key

  1. bore — to tire
  2. can — to be able to
  3. can — a tin
  4. bore — gave birth
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. game — a match
  7. dip — to dunk
  8. cold — an illness
  9. game — wild animals
  10. game — a kind of play
  11. shower — a meteor shower
  12. stock — shares
  13. band — a rubber band
  14. dip — a sauce
  15. shower — to wash
  16. band — a ring
  17. stock — goods
  18. cold — not warm
  19. can — a tin
  20. dip — to sink
  21. band — a music group
  22. stock — a soup base
  23. shower — rain
  24. bore — to drill

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