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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: bore · straw · chest · bat · band · shower · bark · cue

  1. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  2. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  3. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  4. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  5. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  6. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  9. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  10. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  11. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  12. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  13. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  14. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  15. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  16. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  17. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  21. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  22. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  23. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  24. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a ring
  2. band — a rubber band
  3. cue — a hint
  4. shower — rain
  5. bore — to drill
  6. bore — to tire
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. band — a music group
  9. straw — to clutch at straws
  10. chest — of your body
  11. bark — a dog's sound
  12. shower — a meteor shower
  13. straw — dry grass
  14. bore — gave birth
  15. bark — to shout
  16. cue — for pool
  17. shower — to wash
  18. bat — in an idiom
  19. bat — the animal
  20. bark — of a tree
  21. straw — a straw man
  22. chest — of your body
  23. chest — a box
  24. cue — a signal

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