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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: drill · band · rash · pitch · shower · kid · tear · row

  1. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  2. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  3. Don't do anything ________________.
  4. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  5. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  6. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  7. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  8. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  9. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  10. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  11. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  12. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  15. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  16. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  17. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  18. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  19. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  20. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  21. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  22. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  23. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  24. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a line
  2. tear — to rip
  3. rash — hasty
  4. tear — from crying
  5. band — a ring
  6. rash — a series
  7. row — a quarrel
  8. shower — rain
  9. pitch — a sales talk
  10. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  11. shower — a meteor shower
  12. band — a music group
  13. kid — to tease
  14. rash — on the skin
  15. drill — army training
  16. pitch — a sports field
  17. tear — from crying
  18. shower — to wash
  19. row — to paddle
  20. kid — child
  21. band — a rubber band
  22. drill — a practice
  23. pitch — completely
  24. drill — the tool

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