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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: shower · bowl · drill · rush · patient · march · file · pitcher

  1. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  2. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  3. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  4. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  5. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  6. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  7. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  8. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  9. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  10. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  11. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  12. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  13. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  14. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  15. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  16. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  17. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  18. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  19. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  20. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  21. He is an ace ________________.
  22. That must've been a ________________.
  23. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  24. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — to hurry
  2. file — a tool
  3. march — the month
  4. bowl — a football final
  5. bowl — to roll
  6. patient — calm and waiting
  7. march — music
  8. patient — a sick person
  9. file — a line of people
  10. drill — a practice
  11. rush — hurry
  12. shower — rain
  13. bowl — a dish
  14. pitcher — a jug
  15. shower — a meteor shower
  16. drill — army training
  17. drill — the tool
  18. file — a document
  19. march — the month
  20. shower — to wash
  21. pitcher — in baseball
  22. rush — a thrill
  23. pitcher — a jug
  24. patient — a sick person

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