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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: shower · fan · drill · court · bark · bay · band · cold

  1. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  2. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  3. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  4. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  5. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  6. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  7. The ball is in your ________________.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  10. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  11. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  12. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  13. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  14. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  15. My mare is ________________ in color.
  16. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  17. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  20. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  21. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  22. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. He's taking a ________________ right now.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — a dog's sound
  2. bay — a part of the sea
  3. shower — a meteor shower
  4. drill — army training
  5. bark — of a tree
  6. fan — to cool the air
  7. court — for sport
  8. cold — an illness
  9. bay — to keep at bay
  10. band — a rubber band
  11. court — of a king
  12. drill — the tool
  13. fan — a supporter
  14. band — a music group
  15. bay — a horse colour
  16. band — a ring
  17. bark — to shout
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. drill — a practice
  20. court — of law
  21. fan — a supporter
  22. shower — rain
  23. cold — not warm
  24. shower — to wash

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