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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: spring · mark · race · patient · shower · fan · kid · clip

  1. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  3. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  6. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  7. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  8. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  11. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  12. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  13. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  14. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  15. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  16. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  17. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  18. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  21. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  22. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  23. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  24. She got the top ________________ in the exam.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. patient — calm and waiting
  3. kid — child
  4. clip — to cut
  5. race — a contest
  6. fan — a supporter
  7. race — the arms race
  8. fan — to cool the air
  9. clip — for paper
  10. shower — rain
  11. race — humankind
  12. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  13. spring — the season
  14. kid — to tease
  15. patient — a sick person
  16. mark — a trace
  17. fan — a supporter
  18. mark — to pay attention
  19. clip — a video
  20. shower — a meteor shower
  21. patient — a sick person
  22. spring — a coil
  23. spring — of water
  24. mark — a grade

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