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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 116 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: shower · perch · straw · spring · calf · rash · mine · hand

  1. Don't do anything ________________.
  2. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  3. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  4. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  5. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  6. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  7. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  8. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  9. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  10. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  11. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  12. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  13. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  14. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  15. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  16. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  17. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  18. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  19. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  20. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  21. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  22. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  23. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  24. He's taking a ________________ right now.

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

Answer key

  1. rash — hasty
  2. rash — a series
  3. straw — to clutch at straws
  4. mine — for digging
  5. spring — of water
  6. mine — an explosive
  7. rash — on the skin
  8. hand — in cards
  9. hand — help
  10. spring — a coil
  11. straw — dry grass
  12. calf — of the leg
  13. calf — a young animal
  14. shower — a meteor shower
  15. perch — for a bird
  16. calf — a young animal
  17. perch — the fish
  18. shower — rain
  19. straw — a straw man
  20. mine — belonging to me
  21. spring — the season
  22. hand — part of the body
  23. perch — for a bird
  24. shower — to wash

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