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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: straw · row · tear · drill · last · shower · bat · band

  1. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  2. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  3. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  4. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  5. False peace will not ________________.
  6. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  11. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  12. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  13. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  14. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  15. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  16. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  17. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  18. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  19. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  20. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  21. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  22. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  23. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  24. We took cover from the thunder ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. last — finally
  2. drill — a practice
  3. row — to paddle
  4. shower — a meteor shower
  5. last — to go on
  6. row — a quarrel
  7. bat — the animal
  8. tear — from crying
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. last — final
  11. straw — a straw man
  12. tear — to rip
  13. straw — to clutch at straws
  14. band — a rubber band
  15. band — a music group
  16. straw — dry grass
  17. shower — to wash
  18. drill — the tool
  19. tear — from crying
  20. bat — in an idiom
  21. row — a line
  22. drill — army training
  23. band — a ring
  24. shower — rain

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