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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: object · shower · patient · drill · cold · plane · wound · hand

  1. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  2. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  4. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  5. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  6. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  7. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  8. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  9. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  10. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  13. The ________________ took off on time.
  14. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  15. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  16. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  17. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  20. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  23. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — part of the body
  2. shower — to wash
  3. object — to protest
  4. patient — a sick person
  5. object — a thing
  6. drill — a practice
  7. hand — help
  8. patient — calm and waiting
  9. wound — an injury
  10. shower — a meteor shower
  11. cold — an illness
  12. drill — the tool
  13. plane — an aircraft
  14. wound — past of 'wind'
  15. object — an aim
  16. wound — an injury
  17. shower — rain
  18. hand — in cards
  19. plane — a tool
  20. patient — a sick person
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. plane — in geometry
  23. drill — army training
  24. cold — not warm

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