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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: content · scale · net · cold · tube · shower · band · lash

  1. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  6. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  7. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  8. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  9. I'll be taking the ________________.
  10. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  11. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  12. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  13. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  14. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  15. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  16. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  17. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  18. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  19. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  20. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  21. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  24. Check the label for the sugar ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. lash — a whip stroke
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. tube — a container
  4. cold — an illness
  5. content — videos and posts
  6. shower — a meteor shower
  7. band — a music group
  8. tube — in a tire
  9. tube — the underground
  10. net — in sport
  11. lash — to lash out
  12. lash — an eyelash
  13. scale — size or range
  14. band — a ring
  15. shower — to wash
  16. net — after costs
  17. band — a rubber band
  18. content — happy
  19. shower — rain
  20. net — for catching
  21. scale — in music
  22. cold — not warm
  23. scale — for weighing
  24. content — the amount

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