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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: fan · field · race · shower · drill · object · roll · present

  1. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  2. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  3. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  4. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  5. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  8. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  11. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  12. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  13. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  14. We're on a ________________ here.
  15. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  16. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  17. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  18. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  19. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  20. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  21. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  22. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  23. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  24. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.

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

Answer key

  1. roll — a cake
  2. drill — the tool
  3. shower — a meteor shower
  4. fan — a supporter
  5. present — the time now
  6. field — farmland
  7. race — the arms race
  8. present — there
  9. field — a subject
  10. drill — a practice
  11. field — for sport
  12. object — a thing
  13. shower — to wash
  14. roll — on a roll
  15. object — an aim
  16. fan — a supporter
  17. present — a gift
  18. object — to protest
  19. race — a contest
  20. race — humankind
  21. drill — army training
  22. fan — to cool the air
  23. shower — rain
  24. roll — a list

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