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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: straw · date · lean · spell · shower · spring · land · arm

  1. How do you ________________ your surname?
  2. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  3. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  4. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  5. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  6. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  7. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  8. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  9. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  10. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  11. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  12. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  13. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  14. When are we going to ________________?
  15. Have you settled on a ________________?
  16. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  17. My father caught me by the ________________.
  18. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  19. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  20. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  21. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  24. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — letters
  2. arm — part of the body
  3. shower — to wash
  4. spring — the season
  5. straw — dry grass
  6. lean — to bend
  7. arm — a part of something
  8. date — on the calendar
  9. shower — rain
  10. straw — to clutch at straws
  11. land — ground
  12. spell — magic
  13. date — the fruit
  14. land — to come down
  15. date — on the calendar
  16. lean — thin
  17. arm — part of the body
  18. spring — of water
  19. straw — a straw man
  20. lean — to rest against
  21. shower — a meteor shower
  22. land — a country
  23. spring — a coil
  24. spell — a short time

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