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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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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: racket · wake · shower · wind · chip · chest · cold · band

  1. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  2. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  3. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  4. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  5. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  6. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  9. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  10. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  11. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  12. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  13. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  16. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  17. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  20. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  21. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  22. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  23. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  24. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.

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

Answer key

  1. chip — for betting
  2. chest — of your body
  3. chip — in a computer
  4. band — a rubber band
  5. shower — to wash
  6. wake — to stop sleeping
  7. cold — not warm
  8. chest — a box
  9. band — a music group
  10. wake — a trail
  11. chest — of your body
  12. band — a ring
  13. racket — a loud noise
  14. cold — an illness
  15. shower — a meteor shower
  16. wind — moving air
  17. racket — for tennis
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. shower — rain
  20. racket — for tennis
  21. wind — moving air
  22. wind — to turn a key
  23. wake — before a funeral
  24. chip — to eat

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