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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: shower · tear · pitcher · spell · spring · drill · season · straw

  1. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  2. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  4. He is an ace ________________.
  5. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  6. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  7. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  8. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  9. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  10. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  11. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  12. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  13. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  14. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  15. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  16. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  17. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  18. How do you ________________ your surname?
  19. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  20. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  21. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  22. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  23. Did you ________________ the meat?
  24. Spring is a pleasant ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. shower — to wash
  3. straw — dry grass
  4. pitcher — in baseball
  5. shower — a meteor shower
  6. drill — army training
  7. spring — a coil
  8. straw — to clutch at straws
  9. spring — the season
  10. spring — of water
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. shower — rain
  13. straw — a straw man
  14. pitcher — a jug
  15. drill — a practice
  16. tear — to rip
  17. spell — a short time
  18. spell — letters
  19. tear — from crying
  20. season — in sport
  21. spell — magic
  22. drill — the tool
  23. season — to add flavour
  24. season — of the year

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