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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: cold · straw · shower · band · swing · sharp · nail · can

  1. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  3. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  4. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  5. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  6. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  7. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  8. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  9. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  10. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  11. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  12. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  13. The ________________ went through the wall.
  14. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  15. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  16. David sat on the ________________.
  17. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  18. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  19. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  20. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  21. It's one o'clock ________________.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. band — a music group
  3. band — a ring
  4. straw — dry grass
  5. nail — on a finger
  6. shower — to wash
  7. band — a rubber band
  8. shower — a meteor shower
  9. sharp — with an edge
  10. sharp — clever
  11. nail — for a hammer
  12. swing — in golf
  13. nail — for a hammer
  14. can — a tin
  15. swing — music
  16. swing — to play on
  17. can — a tin
  18. straw — a straw man
  19. shower — rain
  20. straw — to clutch at straws
  21. sharp — exactly
  22. cold — not warm
  23. can — to be able to
  24. cold — the Cold War

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