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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: shower · hand · pitch · tube · straw · season · race · fall

  1. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  2. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  3. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  4. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  5. I'll be taking the ________________.
  6. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  7. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  8. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  9. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  10. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  11. Did you ________________ the meat?
  12. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  13. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  14. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  15. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  16. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  17. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  20. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  21. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  22. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  23. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  24. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — a straw man
  2. pitch — completely
  3. race — a contest
  4. shower — a meteor shower
  5. tube — the underground
  6. straw — dry grass
  7. race — the arms race
  8. tube — in a tire
  9. pitch — a sports field
  10. hand — part of the body
  11. season — to add flavour
  12. shower — rain
  13. straw — to clutch at straws
  14. season — of the year
  15. shower — to wash
  16. pitch — a sales talk
  17. fall — to drop
  18. hand — in cards
  19. hand — help
  20. tube — a container
  21. season — in sport
  22. fall — the season
  23. race — humankind
  24. fall — to drop

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