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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: cold · file · chest · fan · march · row · shower · bore

  1. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  2. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  3. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  4. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  5. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  6. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  7. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  8. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  9. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  12. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  13. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  14. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  15. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  16. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  21. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  22. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. We took cover from the thunder ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. row — a quarrel
  3. fan — to cool the air
  4. bore — gave birth
  5. march — music
  6. fan — a supporter
  7. file — a document
  8. file — a line of people
  9. shower — a meteor shower
  10. chest — a box
  11. bore — to tire
  12. chest — of your body
  13. march — the month
  14. row — a line
  15. bore — to drill
  16. file — a tool
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. row — to paddle
  19. cold — not warm
  20. shower — to wash
  21. chest — of your body
  22. fan — a supporter
  23. cold — an illness
  24. shower — rain

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