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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: field · stick · saw · band · cold · shower · plane · hand

  1. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  4. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  5. The ________________ took off on time.
  6. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  9. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  10. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  11. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  12. She's very handy with a ________________.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  15. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  16. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  17. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  18. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  21. He works in a ________________ mill.
  22. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  23. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  24. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. cold — not warm
  3. band — a music group
  4. hand — help
  5. plane — an aircraft
  6. shower — rain
  7. field — farmland
  8. stick — a piece of wood
  9. shower — a meteor shower
  10. stick — a piece of wood
  11. band — a ring
  12. saw — the tool
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. field — a subject
  15. saw — past of 'see'
  16. plane — a tool
  17. shower — to wash
  18. hand — part of the body
  19. field — for sport
  20. hand — in cards
  21. saw — the tool
  22. band — a rubber band
  23. stick — to attach or keep to
  24. plane — in geometry

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