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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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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: chair · perch · shower · cold · stem · tear

  1. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  2. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  3. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  4. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  5. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  6. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  7. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  8. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  13. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  14. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  17. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  18. 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. shower — rain
  2. chair — a leader
  3. perch — the fish
  4. perch — for a bird
  5. stem — a stem cell
  6. tear — to rip
  7. chair — to sit on
  8. stem — of a plant
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. stem — to come from
  11. cold — not warm
  12. tear — from crying
  13. perch — for a bird
  14. shower — to wash
  15. cold — an illness
  16. tear — from crying
  17. chair — a professorship
  18. 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