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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
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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: hand · roll · bear · bound · shower · capital · cold · kick

  1. We're on a ________________ here.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  4. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  7. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  8. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  9. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  10. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  11. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  12. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  13. That was ________________ to happen.
  14. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  17. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  18. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  19. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  24. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.

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

Answer key

  1. roll — on a roll
  2. cold — not warm
  3. bear — to put up with
  4. bear — the animal
  5. hand — help
  6. shower — rain
  7. shower — to wash
  8. hand — part of the body
  9. roll — a list
  10. roll — a cake
  11. kick — a thrill
  12. bound — obliged
  13. bound — certain
  14. bear — the animal
  15. capital — money
  16. capital — a city
  17. capital — a big letter
  18. kick — with a leg
  19. hand — in cards
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. cold — an illness
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. kick — in football
  24. bound — tied together

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