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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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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: face · shower · straw · lash · cold · bound · rash · spring

  1. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  2. Don't do anything ________________.
  3. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  4. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  5. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  6. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  7. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  8. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  11. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  12. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. That was ________________ to happen.
  15. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  18. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  19. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  20. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  23. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  24. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — a straw man
  2. rash — hasty
  3. face — part of the head
  4. straw — to clutch at straws
  5. spring — of water
  6. straw — dry grass
  7. spring — a coil
  8. bound — tied together
  9. cold — an illness
  10. shower — a meteor shower
  11. lash — to lash out
  12. lash — a whip stroke
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. bound — certain
  15. bound — obliged
  16. cold — not warm
  17. face — to confront
  18. rash — a series
  19. shower — to wash
  20. lash — an eyelash
  21. shower — rain
  22. spring — the season
  23. rash — on the skin
  24. face — to point toward

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