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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 · board · rule · bat · chest · shower · mate · bass

  1. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  4. Have you found your soul ________________?
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  10. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  11. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  12. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  13. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  14. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  15. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  18. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  19. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  24. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.

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

Answer key

  1. mate — to breed
  2. bat — the animal
  3. chest — a box
  4. mate — a partner
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. shower — to wash
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. cold — not warm
  9. chest — of your body
  10. board — to get on
  11. board — a committee
  12. board — a flat piece
  13. shower — rain
  14. bass — low music
  15. bass — the instrument
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. bass — the fish
  18. rule — to rule out
  19. mate — a friend
  20. cold — an illness
  21. rule — government
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. rule — a law
  24. chest — of your body

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