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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: chest · shower · stand · pass · rest · cold · wound · kid

  1. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  2. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  3. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  4. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  5. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  6. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  7. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  8. I can't ________________ this cold.
  9. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  10. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  11. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  18. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  19. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  20. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  21. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  22. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. We ________________ up on opposing sides.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. pass — to spend time
  3. rest — a break
  4. stand — on your feet
  5. chest — of your body
  6. shower — to wash
  7. chest — of your body
  8. stand — to bear
  9. kid — to tease
  10. shower — a meteor shower
  11. pass — to succeed
  12. cold — an illness
  13. rest — what's left
  14. kid — child
  15. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  16. cold — not warm
  17. shower — rain
  18. pass — a permit
  19. rest — what's left
  20. wound — an injury
  21. stand — for spectators
  22. chest — a box
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. wound — past of 'wind'

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