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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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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: last · wind · bat · rest · shower · tube · bear · cap

  1. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. I'll be taking the ________________.
  3. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  4. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  5. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  6. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  7. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  8. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  9. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  10. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  11. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  12. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  13. False peace will not ________________.
  14. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  15. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  19. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  20. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  21. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  22. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  23. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  24. A black ________________ roamed the forest.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. tube — the underground
  3. shower — rain
  4. tube — in a tire
  5. cap — a lid
  6. bat — for baseball
  7. shower — a meteor shower
  8. tube — a container
  9. rest — what's left
  10. last — final
  11. rest — a break
  12. wind — to turn a key
  13. last — to go on
  14. wind — moving air
  15. bear — the animal
  16. bat — the animal
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. wind — moving air
  19. cap — a hat
  20. cap — of ice
  21. rest — what's left
  22. bear — to put up with
  23. last — finally
  24. bear — the animal

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