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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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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: tube · band · land · scale · shower · calf · cold · ball

  1. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  2. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  3. When are we going to ________________?
  4. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  5. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  8. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  9. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  10. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  11. The King held a masked ________________.
  12. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  15. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  16. I'll be taking the ________________.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  19. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  20. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  21. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  22. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  23. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  24. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. calf — of the leg
  2. land — a country
  3. land — to come down
  4. ball — a great time
  5. band — a rubber band
  6. cold — an illness
  7. scale — size or range
  8. ball — a round shape
  9. calf — a young animal
  10. tube — a container
  11. ball — a dance
  12. shower — rain
  13. cold — not warm
  14. scale — in music
  15. tube — in a tire
  16. tube — the underground
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. calf — a young animal
  19. shower — to wash
  20. scale — for weighing
  21. shower — a meteor shower
  22. land — ground
  23. band — a music group
  24. band — a ring

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