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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: rest · straw · trunk · snap · bowl · cold · bore · shower

  1. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  2. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  3. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  4. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  5. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  6. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  9. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  10. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  11. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  12. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  13. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  16. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  17. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  18. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  19. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  20. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  21. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  22. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  23. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of a car
  2. bore — to tire
  3. rest — what's left
  4. snap — to click
  5. snap — to snap out of it
  6. shower — rain
  7. cold — an illness
  8. bore — to drill
  9. bowl — a dish
  10. rest — a break
  11. bowl — a football final
  12. bowl — to roll
  13. rest — what's left
  14. cold — not warm
  15. shower — a meteor shower
  16. trunk — of a tree
  17. snap — to speak sharply
  18. straw — dry grass
  19. bore — gave birth
  20. straw — a straw man
  21. shower — to wash
  22. straw — to clutch at straws
  23. trunk — of an elephant
  24. cold — the Cold War

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