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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: content · mouse · rest · patient · wind · shower · straw · bear

  1. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  3. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  4. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  5. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  6. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  7. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  8. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  9. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  10. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  11. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  12. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  13. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  14. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  15. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  16. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  17. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  18. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  19. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  20. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  21. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  22. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  23. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  24. We took cover from the thunder ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. mouse — for a computer
  3. rest — a break
  4. wind — moving air
  5. bear — to put up with
  6. straw — a straw man
  7. mouse — the animal
  8. rest — what's left
  9. bear — the animal
  10. content — videos and posts
  11. patient — calm and waiting
  12. patient — a sick person
  13. straw — dry grass
  14. wind — moving air
  15. wind — to turn a key
  16. rest — what's left
  17. straw — to clutch at straws
  18. shower — a meteor shower
  19. shower — to wash
  20. patient — a sick person
  21. bear — the animal
  22. content — the amount
  23. mouse — the animal
  24. shower — rain

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