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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: nail · rush · shower · hand · stick · cold · row · race

  1. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  2. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  3. That must've been a ________________.
  4. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  5. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  6. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  7. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  8. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  9. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  10. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  11. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  12. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  13. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. The ________________ went through the wall.
  19. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  20. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  21. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  22. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  23. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. nail — on a finger
  2. hand — part of the body
  3. rush — a thrill
  4. stick — a piece of wood
  5. shower — a meteor shower
  6. row — a quarrel
  7. hand — in cards
  8. shower — to wash
  9. hand — help
  10. stick — a piece of wood
  11. shower — rain
  12. stick — to attach or keep to
  13. race — a contest
  14. cold — not warm
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. rush — to hurry
  17. cold — an illness
  18. nail — for a hammer
  19. race — the arms race
  20. race — humankind
  21. row — a line
  22. rush — hurry
  23. nail — for a hammer
  24. row — to paddle

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