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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.

Words on the sheet
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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: kid · shower · rash · game · stem · content · row · fine

  1. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  2. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  4. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  5. Don't do anything ________________.
  6. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  9. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  10. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  11. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  12. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  13. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  14. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  15. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  16. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  17. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  18. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  19. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  20. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  21. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  22. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  23. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  24. That was a fun ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fine — high quality
  2. shower — to wash
  3. rash — on the skin
  4. fine — all right
  5. rash — hasty
  6. stem — a stem cell
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. row — to paddle
  9. kid — to tease
  10. content — happy
  11. kid — child
  12. content — videos and posts
  13. game — wild animals
  14. fine — a penalty
  15. row — a quarrel
  16. stem — to come from
  17. stem — of a plant
  18. shower — rain
  19. row — a line
  20. shower — a meteor shower
  21. game — a kind of play
  22. rash — a series
  23. content — the amount
  24. game — a match

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