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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: fork · cold · saw · spring · can · shower · kid · bear

  1. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. He works in a ________________ mill.
  4. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  5. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  6. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  7. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  8. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  11. She's very handy with a ________________.
  12. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  13. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  14. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  15. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  16. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  17. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  20. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  23. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  24. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. saw — the tool
  4. shower — a meteor shower
  5. saw — past of 'see'
  6. fork — a garden tool
  7. bear — to put up with
  8. bear — the animal
  9. cold — an illness
  10. fork — in a road
  11. saw — the tool
  12. can — to be able to
  13. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  14. shower — to wash
  15. spring — of water
  16. can — a tin
  17. spring — the season
  18. cold — not warm
  19. bear — the animal
  20. fork — to eat with
  21. shower — rain
  22. spring — a coil
  23. kid — child
  24. can — a tin

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