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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: club · wake · shower · cold · pit · calf · spring · chair

  1. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  2. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  5. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  6. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  7. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  8. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  9. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  10. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  11. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  12. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  13. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  14. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  15. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  16. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  17. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  18. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  21. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.

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

Answer key

  1. calf — of the leg
  2. club — for dancing
  3. spring — a coil
  4. shower — rain
  5. club — for golf
  6. club — a group
  7. shower — a meteor shower
  8. calf — a young animal
  9. shower — to wash
  10. wake — to stop sleeping
  11. chair — a professorship
  12. pit — a fruit stone
  13. wake — before a funeral
  14. chair — to sit on
  15. pit — in a race
  16. calf — a young animal
  17. spring — the season
  18. pit — a hole
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. spring — of water
  21. chair — a leader
  22. cold — an illness
  23. cold — not warm
  24. wake — a trail

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