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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: shower · tube · cold · craft · leaves · bark · pound · mate

  1. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  3. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  4. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  5. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  6. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  9. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  10. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  11. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  12. I'll be taking the ________________.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  15. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  16. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  19. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  20. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  21. Have you found your soul ________________?
  22. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  23. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  24. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. pound — a weight
  3. shower — rain
  4. leaves — to go away
  5. mate — a friend
  6. craft — boats
  7. cold — not warm
  8. bark — a dog's sound
  9. tube — a container
  10. pound — for dogs
  11. craft — a skill
  12. tube — the underground
  13. cold — an illness
  14. craft — a handicraft
  15. mate — to breed
  16. bark — to shout
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. pound — to hit hard
  19. leaves — lets stay
  20. shower — a meteor shower
  21. mate — a partner
  22. leaves — of a tree
  23. tube — in a tire
  24. bark — of a tree

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