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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: cell · cold · prune · bark · straw · cabinet · shower · bat

  1. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  2. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  3. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  8. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  11. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  12. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  13. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  14. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  15. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  16. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  17. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  18. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  19. He was locked up in a ________________.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  22. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  23. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  24. What do you think of the new ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. straw — a straw man
  3. straw — to clutch at straws
  4. cold — an illness
  5. cell — a phone
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. shower — rain
  8. bat — for baseball
  9. cold — not warm
  10. straw — dry grass
  11. prune — the fruit
  12. cabinet — ministers
  13. prune — to trim
  14. shower — to wash
  15. bark — to shout
  16. shower — a meteor shower
  17. bark — a dog's sound
  18. bark — of a tree
  19. cell — in a prison
  20. bat — the animal
  21. cabinet — a cupboard
  22. cell — in biology
  23. bat — in an idiom
  24. cabinet — ministers

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