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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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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 · fork · kick · land · cold · tube · bank · last

  1. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  2. When are we going to ________________?
  3. I'll be taking the ________________.
  4. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. False peace will not ________________.
  7. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  8. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  11. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  12. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  13. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  14. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  15. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  16. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  19. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  20. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  21. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  24. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.

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

Answer key

  1. kick — in football
  2. land — to come down
  3. tube — the underground
  4. tube — a container
  5. cold — an illness
  6. last — to go on
  7. bank — for money
  8. shower — a meteor shower
  9. cold — not warm
  10. bank — of a river
  11. bank — for money
  12. land — ground
  13. kick — a thrill
  14. tube — in a tire
  15. fork — to eat with
  16. shower — rain
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. fork — a garden tool
  19. fork — in a road
  20. last — finally
  21. last — final
  22. land — a country
  23. shower — to wash
  24. kick — with a leg

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