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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: deal · patient · shower · fork · cold · trunk · drill · tear

  1. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  3. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  4. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  5. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  6. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  7. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  10. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  11. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  12. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  13. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  14. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  15. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  16. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  17. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  18. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  19. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  22. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  23. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  24. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. drill — the tool
  3. shower — to wash
  4. shower — rain
  5. trunk — of a car
  6. deal — to handle
  7. deal — an agreement
  8. cold — not warm
  9. tear — from crying
  10. deal — a big deal
  11. drill — a practice
  12. drill — army training
  13. shower — a meteor shower
  14. trunk — of a tree
  15. patient — calm and waiting
  16. trunk — of an elephant
  17. tear — to rip
  18. fork — to eat with
  19. fork — a garden tool
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. fork — in a road
  22. patient — a sick person
  23. tear — from crying
  24. patient — a sick person

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