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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: spring · shower · cold · roll · rule · bear · branch · mouse

  1. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  2. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  3. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  4. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  5. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  6. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  9. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  10. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  11. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  12. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  13. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  17. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  18. We're on a ________________ here.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  21. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  22. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  23. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  24. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.

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

Answer key

  1. mouse — the animal
  2. roll — a list
  3. bear — the animal
  4. shower — a meteor shower
  5. shower — rain
  6. shower — to wash
  7. cold — not warm
  8. mouse — for a computer
  9. mouse — the animal
  10. spring — of water
  11. rule — a law
  12. bear — the animal
  13. bear — to put up with
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. spring — a coil
  16. roll — a cake
  17. rule — government
  18. roll — on a roll
  19. cold — an illness
  20. branch — a division
  21. spring — the season
  22. branch — of a bank
  23. rule — to rule out
  24. branch — of a tree

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