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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: shower · cap · rock · patient · wind · cold · key · bark

  1. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  2. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  4. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  5. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  8. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  9. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  10. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  11. This piece is in a major ________________.
  12. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  13. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  14. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  15. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  16. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  17. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  18. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  19. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  20. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  24. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.

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

Answer key

  1. cap — a hat
  2. wind — moving air
  3. bark — of a tree
  4. shower — rain
  5. key — for a lock
  6. cold — an illness
  7. patient — a sick person
  8. rock — to move gently
  9. rock — music
  10. shower — a meteor shower
  11. key — in music
  12. patient — calm and waiting
  13. rock — a stone
  14. key — the most important part
  15. bark — to shout
  16. patient — a sick person
  17. cap — a lid
  18. wind — moving air
  19. cap — of ice
  20. bark — a dog's sound
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. cold — not warm
  23. shower — to wash
  24. wind — to turn a key

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