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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 · cold · vault · mate · leaves · rush · content · spring

  1. Have you found your soul ________________?
  2. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  3. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  4. That must've been a ________________.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  9. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  10. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  11. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  12. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  13. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  14. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  17. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  18. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  19. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  20. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  23. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  24. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mate — a partner
  2. vault — in gymnastics
  3. leaves — of a tree
  4. rush — a thrill
  5. cold — an illness
  6. content — happy
  7. cold — not warm
  8. mate — a friend
  9. content — videos and posts
  10. shower — rain
  11. shower — to wash
  12. rush — to hurry
  13. spring — the season
  14. rush — hurry
  15. spring — a coil
  16. shower — a meteor shower
  17. leaves — to go away
  18. mate — to breed
  19. content — the amount
  20. vault — an arched ceiling
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. spring — of water
  23. leaves — lets stay
  24. vault — a safe

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