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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: hand · ground · wound · club · shower · land · lean · wind

  1. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  4. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  5. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  6. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  7. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  8. There's no middle ________________.
  9. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  10. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  11. When are we going to ________________?
  12. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  13. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  14. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  15. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  16. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  17. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  18. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  19. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  20. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  21. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  24. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. hand — help
  3. hand — in cards
  4. hand — part of the body
  5. shower — rain
  6. ground — the earth
  7. lean — to bend
  8. ground — a position
  9. ground — crushed
  10. shower — to wash
  11. land — to come down
  12. wound — an injury
  13. club — for golf
  14. land — a country
  15. land — ground
  16. lean — thin
  17. wound — past of 'wind'
  18. wind — moving air
  19. club — for dancing
  20. wind — to turn a key
  21. club — a group
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. lean — to rest against
  24. wind — moving air

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