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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: chest · cold · hand · shower · coach · nail · spell · hide

  1. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  2. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  3. Have you met the new head ________________?
  4. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  5. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  6. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  7. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  8. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  9. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  12. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  13. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  14. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  15. The ________________ went through the wall.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  18. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  19. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  20. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  21. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  22. How do you ________________ your surname?
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. coach — a trainer
  2. chest — a box
  3. coach — a trainer
  4. nail — on a finger
  5. coach — pulled by horses
  6. hide — to keep secret
  7. chest — of your body
  8. nail — for a hammer
  9. hand — help
  10. cold — an illness
  11. hide — animal skin
  12. shower — to wash
  13. hand — part of the body
  14. hand — in cards
  15. nail — for a hammer
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. spell — magic
  18. spell — a short time
  19. shower — rain
  20. chest — of your body
  21. hide — to keep secret
  22. spell — letters
  23. cold — not warm
  24. shower — a meteor shower

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