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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: wind · club · race · tear · shower · chest · cue · cabinet

  1. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  2. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  4. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  5. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  6. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  7. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  8. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  9. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  10. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  11. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  12. What do you think of the new ________________?
  13. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  14. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  15. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  16. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  17. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  18. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  19. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  20. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  21. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  22. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  23. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  24. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.

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

Answer key

  1. club — a group
  2. wind — moving air
  3. cue — a hint
  4. shower — rain
  5. shower — to wash
  6. tear — from crying
  7. chest — of your body
  8. cabinet — a cupboard
  9. club — for dancing
  10. race — humankind
  11. wind — to turn a key
  12. cabinet — ministers
  13. chest — of your body
  14. wind — moving air
  15. club — for golf
  16. cue — for pool
  17. tear — to rip
  18. cabinet — ministers
  19. race — a contest
  20. cue — a signal
  21. shower — a meteor shower
  22. race — the arms race
  23. tear — from crying
  24. chest — a box

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