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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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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 · bay · tube · fall · calf · pound · trunk

  1. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  4. I'll be taking the ________________.
  5. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  6. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  7. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  10. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  11. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  12. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  13. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  14. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  15. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  18. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  19. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  20. My mare is ________________ in color.
  21. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  22. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  23. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  24. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. cold — an illness
  3. calf — of the leg
  4. tube — the underground
  5. shower — rain
  6. tube — in a tire
  7. trunk — of an elephant
  8. cold — not warm
  9. fall — to drop
  10. bay — to keep at bay
  11. pound — to hit hard
  12. fall — to drop
  13. calf — a young animal
  14. shower — a meteor shower
  15. fall — the season
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. pound — a weight
  18. bay — a part of the sea
  19. pound — for dogs
  20. bay — a horse colour
  21. trunk — of a car
  22. trunk — of a tree
  23. tube — a container
  24. calf — a young animal

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