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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: hand · game · chair · cold · fan · drill · press · shower

  1. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  4. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  5. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  6. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  7. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  8. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  9. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  10. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  11. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  12. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  13. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  14. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  15. That was a fun ________________.
  16. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  19. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  20. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  21. Did you ________________ the button?
  22. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  23. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  24. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. cold — not warm
  3. fan — a supporter
  4. chair — to sit on
  5. fan — to cool the air
  6. chair — a professorship
  7. shower — rain
  8. drill — army training
  9. game — a kind of play
  10. chair — a leader
  11. press — newspapers
  12. drill — a practice
  13. game — wild animals
  14. press — a publisher
  15. game — a match
  16. hand — in cards
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. hand — help
  19. shower — a meteor shower
  20. drill — the tool
  21. press — to push
  22. hand — part of the body
  23. shower — to wash
  24. fan — a supporter

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