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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: spell · spring · perch · craft · chest · shower · cold · pop

  1. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  2. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  6. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  7. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  8. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  9. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  10. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  11. You don't need to ________________ round.
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  16. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  17. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  18. We're almost out of ________________.
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. How do you ________________ your surname?
  21. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  22. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  23. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. shower — to wash
  3. craft — boats
  4. cold — not warm
  5. shower — a meteor shower
  6. pop — music
  7. craft — a handicraft
  8. shower — rain
  9. perch — for a bird
  10. spell — magic
  11. pop — to visit
  12. chest — of your body
  13. perch — for a bird
  14. cold — an illness
  15. perch — the fish
  16. spell — a short time
  17. craft — a skill
  18. pop — soda
  19. spring — of water
  20. spell — letters
  21. spring — the season
  22. chest — a box
  23. spring — a coil
  24. cold — the Cold War

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