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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 120 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: tube · shower · cold · stand · bat · chip · chair · rash

  1. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  4. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  5. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  6. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  7. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  8. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  9. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. I can't ________________ this cold.
  14. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  15. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  16. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  17. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  18. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  19. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  20. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  21. I'll be taking the ________________.
  22. Don't do anything ________________.
  23. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  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. chip — to eat
  2. bat — the animal
  3. bat — in an idiom
  4. shower — a meteor shower
  5. shower — to wash
  6. bat — for baseball
  7. chair — a leader
  8. chair — to sit on
  9. chip — for betting
  10. cold — not warm
  11. tube — a container
  12. cold — an illness
  13. stand — to bear
  14. chip — in a computer
  15. shower — rain
  16. stand — for spectators
  17. rash — on the skin
  18. tube — in a tire
  19. chair — a professorship
  20. rash — a series
  21. tube — the underground
  22. rash — hasty
  23. stand — on your feet
  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