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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: wind · swing · shower · rush · hand · spring · wound · stock

  1. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  2. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  4. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  5. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  6. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  7. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  8. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  9. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  10. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  11. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  12. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  13. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  14. David sat on the ________________.
  15. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  16. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  17. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  18. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  19. The ________________ market has crashed.
  20. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  21. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  22. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  23. That must've been 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. swing — music
  2. wind — moving air
  3. spring — the season
  4. swing — in golf
  5. wound — an injury
  6. hand — help
  7. rush — hurry
  8. spring — of water
  9. wound — past of 'wind'
  10. wound — an injury
  11. hand — in cards
  12. stock — a soup base
  13. rush — to hurry
  14. swing — to play on
  15. shower — to wash
  16. shower — rain
  17. spring — a coil
  18. wind — moving air
  19. stock — shares
  20. hand — part of the body
  21. stock — goods
  22. wind — to turn a key
  23. rush — a thrill
  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