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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: saw · roll · firm · shower · mate · hand · cold · fall

  1. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  2. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  3. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  4. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. Have you found your soul ________________?
  7. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  8. She's very handy with a ________________.
  9. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  10. We're on a ________________ here.
  11. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  14. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  15. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  16. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  19. He works in a ________________ mill.
  20. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  21. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  22. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  23. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  24. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.

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

Answer key

  1. firm — steady
  2. fall — to drop
  3. hand — part of the body
  4. shower — rain
  5. cold — not warm
  6. mate — a partner
  7. mate — a friend
  8. saw — the tool
  9. hand — in cards
  10. roll — on a roll
  11. fall — to drop
  12. cold — an illness
  13. shower — a meteor shower
  14. hand — help
  15. mate — to breed
  16. roll — a cake
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. fall — the season
  19. saw — the tool
  20. saw — past of 'see'
  21. shower — to wash
  22. firm — a company
  23. firm — decided
  24. roll — a list

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