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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: rash · band · fall · row · bat · clip · stem · shower

  1. Don't do anything ________________.
  2. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  3. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  4. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  8. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  11. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  14. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  17. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  18. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  19. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  20. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  21. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  24. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rash — hasty
  2. shower — rain
  3. fall — to drop
  4. stem — a stem cell
  5. clip — a video
  6. clip — for paper
  7. rash — a series
  8. row — a quarrel
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. rash — on the skin
  11. fall — to drop
  12. clip — to cut
  13. shower — a meteor shower
  14. band — a rubber band
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. fall — the season
  17. stem — of a plant
  18. stem — to come from
  19. row — to paddle
  20. band — a ring
  21. shower — to wash
  22. bat — the animal
  23. row — a line
  24. band — a music group

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