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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: shower · squash · spring · fall · sharp · content · leaves · straw

  1. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  2. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  3. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  4. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  5. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  6. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  7. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  8. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  9. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  10. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  11. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  12. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  13. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  14. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  17. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  18. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. It's one o'clock ________________.
  21. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  22. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  23. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  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. spring — the season
  2. squash — the vegetable
  3. squash — to crush
  4. shower — rain
  5. leaves — of a tree
  6. content — happy
  7. squash — the sport
  8. fall — to drop
  9. leaves — to go away
  10. spring — a coil
  11. fall — the season
  12. straw — dry grass
  13. sharp — with an edge
  14. shower — to wash
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. fall — to drop
  17. content — the amount
  18. leaves — lets stay
  19. spring — of water
  20. sharp — exactly
  21. straw — a straw man
  22. sharp — clever
  23. straw — to clutch at straws
  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