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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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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: bowl · cold · tube · race · bark · row · nail · shower

  1. I'll be taking the ________________.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  4. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  5. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  6. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  7. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  8. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  9. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  10. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  11. The ________________ went through the wall.
  12. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  13. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  16. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  17. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  18. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  19. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  20. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  21. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  24. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — the underground
  2. cold — an illness
  3. bark — a dog's sound
  4. row — to paddle
  5. race — humankind
  6. bowl — to roll
  7. bowl — a football final
  8. bark — to shout
  9. tube — a container
  10. row — a line
  11. nail — for a hammer
  12. shower — rain
  13. bowl — a dish
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. race — a contest
  16. nail — on a finger
  17. shower — to wash
  18. nail — for a hammer
  19. row — a quarrel
  20. tube — in a tire
  21. shower — a meteor shower
  22. cold — not warm
  23. race — the arms race
  24. bark — of a tree

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