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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: race · straw · cue · plane · march · shower · track · cold

  1. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  2. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  3. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  4. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  5. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  6. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  7. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  8. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  12. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  13. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  14. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  15. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  16. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  17. The ________________ took off on time.
  18. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  19. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  22. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  23. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  24. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — dry grass
  2. shower — a meteor shower
  3. track — to keep track
  4. race — humankind
  5. cue — a signal
  6. shower — rain
  7. cue — a hint
  8. cue — for pool
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. cold — an illness
  11. track — a path
  12. track — a song
  13. straw — to clutch at straws
  14. march — the month
  15. march — the month
  16. march — music
  17. plane — an aircraft
  18. race — the arms race
  19. shower — to wash
  20. cold — not warm
  21. plane — a tool
  22. plane — in geometry
  23. race — a contest
  24. straw — a straw man

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