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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 · bank · straw · season · wave · racket · squash · cold

  1. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  2. Did you ________________ the meat?
  3. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  4. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  5. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  6. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  7. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  8. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  9. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  10. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  11. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  14. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  15. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  16. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  17. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  18. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  19. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  23. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. bank — for money
  2. season — to add flavour
  3. squash — to crush
  4. bank — for money
  5. wave — a sudden rise
  6. racket — a loud noise
  7. straw — dry grass
  8. bank — of a river
  9. straw — a straw man
  10. racket — for tennis
  11. season — of the year
  12. cold — not warm
  13. shower — a meteor shower
  14. wave — of the sea
  15. shower — to wash
  16. season — in sport
  17. straw — to clutch at straws
  18. wave — with your hand
  19. squash — the sport
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. shower — rain
  22. squash — the vegetable
  23. racket — for tennis
  24. cold — an illness

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