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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: lash · jam · band · stem · cold · land · shower · dip

  1. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  2. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  3. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  4. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  5. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  6. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  7. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  8. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  9. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  10. When are we going to ________________?
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  13. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  14. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  15. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  16. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  17. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  18. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  19. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  22. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. jam — to spread on bread
  2. land — ground
  3. lash — an eyelash
  4. band — a ring
  5. dip — to sink
  6. stem — to come from
  7. land — a country
  8. shower — to wash
  9. dip — to dunk
  10. land — to come down
  11. cold — not warm
  12. stem — a stem cell
  13. band — a rubber band
  14. jam — a tight spot
  15. stem — of a plant
  16. shower — rain
  17. jam — in traffic
  18. lash — to lash out
  19. dip — a sauce
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. band — a music group
  22. lash — a whip stroke
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  24. cold — an illness

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