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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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 · bulb · cold · fall · content · fan · lie · straw

  1. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  4. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  5. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  6. The light ________________ burned out.
  7. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  8. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  9. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  10. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  11. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  12. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  13. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  14. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  15. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  16. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  19. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  20. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. I've got to change the light ________________.
  23. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  24. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — a supporter
  2. cold — an illness
  3. fan — to cool the air
  4. lie — an untruth
  5. shower — to wash
  6. bulb — for light
  7. lie — to recline
  8. content — happy
  9. straw — dry grass
  10. fall — to drop
  11. shower — rain
  12. content — videos and posts
  13. shower — a meteor shower
  14. lie — an untruth
  15. fall — to drop
  16. fan — a supporter
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. fall — the season
  19. straw — a straw man
  20. content — the amount
  21. cold — not warm
  22. bulb — for light
  23. straw — to clutch at straws
  24. bulb — of a plant

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