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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: wind · stick · shower · hand · bay · date · bore · cold

  1. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  2. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  3. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  6. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  7. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  10. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  11. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  12. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  13. My mare is ________________ in color.
  14. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  15. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  16. Have you settled on a ________________?
  17. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  18. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  19. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  20. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  21. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  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. bore — to tire
  2. hand — in cards
  3. wind — moving air
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. wind — moving air
  6. stick — to attach or keep to
  7. wind — to turn a key
  8. cold — not warm
  9. bay — to keep at bay
  10. stick — a piece of wood
  11. bay — a part of the sea
  12. stick — a piece of wood
  13. bay — a horse colour
  14. date — on the calendar
  15. bore — to drill
  16. date — on the calendar
  17. hand — help
  18. date — the fruit
  19. hand — part of the body
  20. bore — gave birth
  21. shower — a meteor shower
  22. cold — an illness
  23. shower — to wash
  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