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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: bowl · cold · mate · chest · shower · toast · scale · stand

  1. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  2. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  3. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  4. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  7. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  8. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  9. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  10. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  11. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  12. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  13. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  14. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  15. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  16. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  19. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  20. I can't ________________ this cold.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. Have you found your soul ________________?
  24. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. stand — on your feet
  2. bowl — to roll
  3. bowl — a football final
  4. mate — to breed
  5. cold — not warm
  6. bowl — a dish
  7. shower — rain
  8. chest — a box
  9. chest — of your body
  10. toast — the most admired
  11. shower — to wash
  12. scale — size or range
  13. mate — a friend
  14. toast — a drink to someone
  15. scale — for weighing
  16. toast — bread
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. chest — of your body
  19. stand — for spectators
  20. stand — to bear
  21. cold — an illness
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. mate — a partner
  24. scale — in music

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