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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: shower · present · spell · root · straw · sharp · fall · cold

  1. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  2. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  3. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  4. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  5. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  6. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  7. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  8. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  9. How do you ________________ your surname?
  10. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  11. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  12. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  13. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  14. It's one o'clock ________________.
  15. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  19. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  22. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  23. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  24. We took cover from the thunder ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — a straw man
  2. sharp — clever
  3. shower — to wash
  4. fall — the season
  5. spell — magic
  6. root — of a word
  7. present — a gift
  8. spell — a short time
  9. spell — letters
  10. root — the cause
  11. sharp — with an edge
  12. fall — to drop
  13. straw — dry grass
  14. sharp — exactly
  15. present — there
  16. cold — not warm
  17. cold — an illness
  18. fall — to drop
  19. shower — a meteor shower
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. present — the time now
  22. root — of a plant
  23. straw — to clutch at straws
  24. shower — rain

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