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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: mug · court · race · net · cold · tear · shower · band

  1. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  2. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  3. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  4. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  5. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  6. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  7. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  10. Where did you ________________ them?
  11. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  12. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  13. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  16. The ball is in your ________________.
  17. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  18. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  19. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  20. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  23. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  24. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — rain
  2. band — a rubber band
  3. court — of a king
  4. race — the arms race
  5. court — of law
  6. race — a contest
  7. mug — a face
  8. cold — an illness
  9. net — after costs
  10. mug — to rob
  11. race — humankind
  12. band — a music group
  13. band — a ring
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. mug — a cup
  16. court — for sport
  17. shower — to wash
  18. net — for catching
  19. tear — to rip
  20. shower — a meteor shower
  21. cold — not warm
  22. net — in sport
  23. tear — from crying
  24. tear — from crying

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