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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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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: board · hand · shower · row · object · cold · race · root

  1. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  2. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  4. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  5. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  6. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  9. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  10. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  11. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  16. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  17. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  18. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  19. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  20. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  21. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  22. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  23. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  24. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. race — the arms race
  2. shower — to wash
  3. hand — in cards
  4. board — a committee
  5. root — of a word
  6. root — the cause
  7. cold — not warm
  8. object — a thing
  9. root — of a plant
  10. object — to protest
  11. shower — rain
  12. cold — an illness
  13. row — a line
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. race — a contest
  16. hand — help
  17. row — a quarrel
  18. object — an aim
  19. hand — part of the body
  20. board — a flat piece
  21. board — to get on
  22. row — to paddle
  23. race — humankind
  24. shower — a meteor shower

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