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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: shower · season · bat · tube · drill · cold · ruler · plane

  1. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  2. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  3. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  4. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  5. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  6. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  7. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  8. I'll be taking the ________________.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  11. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  14. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  17. The ________________ took off on time.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  20. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. Did you ________________ the meat?
  24. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — in a tire
  2. season — in sport
  3. shower — a meteor shower
  4. season — of the year
  5. plane — in geometry
  6. drill — the tool
  7. ruler — a monarch
  8. tube — the underground
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. shower — rain
  11. plane — a tool
  12. bat — the animal
  13. ruler — for measuring
  14. ruler — for measuring
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. drill — army training
  17. plane — an aircraft
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. shower — to wash
  20. drill — a practice
  21. cold — an illness
  22. cold — not warm
  23. season — to add flavour
  24. tube — a container

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