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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: spring · nail · cold · last · key · land · shower · stick

  1. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  2. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  6. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  7. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  8. False peace will not ________________.
  9. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  10. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  11. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  14. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  15. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  16. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  17. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  18. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. When are we going to ________________?
  21. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  22. This piece is in a major ________________.
  23. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  24. The ________________ went through the wall.

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

Answer key

  1. stick — a piece of wood
  2. shower — to wash
  3. stick — to attach or keep to
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. key — for a lock
  6. land — ground
  7. last — final
  8. last — to go on
  9. last — finally
  10. nail — on a finger
  11. shower — rain
  12. cold — an illness
  13. shower — a meteor shower
  14. spring — a coil
  15. spring — of water
  16. spring — the season
  17. nail — for a hammer
  18. land — a country
  19. cold — not warm
  20. land — to come down
  21. key — the most important part
  22. key — in music
  23. stick — a piece of wood
  24. nail — for a hammer

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