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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 120 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: lean · bore · hand · pound · shower · kick · spring · cold

  1. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  2. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  3. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  4. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  5. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  6. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  7. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  8. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  9. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  10. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  11. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  12. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  13. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  14. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  15. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  16. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  20. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  21. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pound — to hit hard
  2. lean — thin
  3. shower — to wash
  4. spring — the season
  5. bore — to tire
  6. hand — help
  7. pound — for dogs
  8. bore — to drill
  9. shower — rain
  10. kick — with a leg
  11. hand — part of the body
  12. kick — a thrill
  13. hand — in cards
  14. spring — a coil
  15. lean — to bend
  16. kick — in football
  17. cold — an illness
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. pound — a weight
  20. bore — gave birth
  21. lean — to rest against
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. cold — not warm
  24. spring — of water

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