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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 120 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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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: chest · tube · row · shower · band · rule · patient · fork

  1. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  2. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  3. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  4. I'll be taking the ________________.
  5. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  6. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  7. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  8. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  9. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  10. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  11. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  12. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  13. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  14. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  15. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  16. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  17. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  18. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  19. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  20. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  21. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  22. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  23. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  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. row — a quarrel
  2. shower — a meteor shower
  3. rule — a law
  4. tube — the underground
  5. band — a ring
  6. chest — of your body
  7. fork — in a road
  8. rule — government
  9. patient — calm and waiting
  10. fork — to eat with
  11. shower — rain
  12. tube — a container
  13. chest — of your body
  14. band — a rubber band
  15. patient — a sick person
  16. rule — to rule out
  17. chest — a box
  18. band — a music group
  19. row — a line
  20. row — to paddle
  21. fork — a garden tool
  22. patient — a sick person
  23. tube — in a tire
  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