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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 · shower · pound · bowl · cold · bear · dip · scale

  1. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  2. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  3. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  4. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  7. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  8. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  9. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  12. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  15. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  16. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  17. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  18. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  19. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  20. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  21. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  22. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  23. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  24. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a football final
  2. pound — a weight
  3. bowl — to roll
  4. shower — to wash
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. straw — a straw man
  7. dip — to sink
  8. dip — a sauce
  9. shower — rain
  10. cold — not warm
  11. straw — to clutch at straws
  12. dip — to dunk
  13. cold — an illness
  14. pound — for dogs
  15. scale — size or range
  16. pound — to hit hard
  17. scale — for weighing
  18. bear — the animal
  19. straw — dry grass
  20. bear — to put up with
  21. shower — a meteor shower
  22. scale — in music
  23. bear — the animal
  24. bowl — a dish

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