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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: squash · court · cold · wave · shower · press · bark · straw

  1. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  2. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  3. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  4. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  5. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  6. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  7. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  8. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  11. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  14. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  15. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  16. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  17. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  18. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  19. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  20. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  21. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  22. Did you ________________ the button?
  23. The ball is in your ________________.
  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. shower — rain
  2. squash — the sport
  3. squash — the vegetable
  4. wave — with your hand
  5. court — of a king
  6. shower — to wash
  7. shower — a meteor shower
  8. bark — to shout
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. press — newspapers
  11. straw — a straw man
  12. cold — not warm
  13. press — a publisher
  14. bark — a dog's sound
  15. squash — to crush
  16. wave — of the sea
  17. court — of law
  18. bark — of a tree
  19. straw — to clutch at straws
  20. wave — a sudden rise
  21. straw — dry grass
  22. press — to push
  23. court — for sport
  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