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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: drill · cold · ball · pass · fall · shower · bark · chair

  1. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  3. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  4. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  7. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  8. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  9. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  10. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  11. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  12. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  13. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  14. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  15. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  16. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  17. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  18. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  19. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  20. The King held a masked ________________.
  21. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  22. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  23. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. ball — a great time
  3. pass — to spend time
  4. chair — a professorship
  5. cold — not warm
  6. shower — a meteor shower
  7. fall — to drop
  8. fall — to drop
  9. chair — to sit on
  10. pass — a permit
  11. drill — army training
  12. bark — to shout
  13. chair — a leader
  14. bark — of a tree
  15. bark — a dog's sound
  16. drill — a practice
  17. drill — the tool
  18. ball — a round shape
  19. shower — to wash
  20. ball — a dance
  21. pass — to succeed
  22. shower — rain
  23. fall — the season
  24. cold — the Cold War

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