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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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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: can · shower · wound · tube · rule · prune · coach · cold

  1. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  3. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  4. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  5. Have you met the new head ________________?
  6. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  7. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  8. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  9. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  10. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  11. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  12. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  13. I'll be taking the ________________.
  14. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  15. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  19. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  20. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  21. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  22. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  23. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  24. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. wound — an injury
  3. rule — a law
  4. tube — a container
  5. coach — a trainer
  6. can — to be able to
  7. wound — an injury
  8. shower — a meteor shower
  9. coach — pulled by horses
  10. prune — to trim
  11. prune — the fruit
  12. shower — to wash
  13. tube — the underground
  14. tube — in a tire
  15. can — a tin
  16. cold — an illness
  17. cold — not warm
  18. shower — rain
  19. can — a tin
  20. wound — past of 'wind'
  21. coach — a trainer
  22. prune — to trim
  23. rule — government
  24. rule — to rule out

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