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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: fall · spring · deal · spell · kid · wind · shower · track

  1. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  2. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  3. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  4. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  5. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  6. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  7. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  8. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  9. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  10. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  11. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  12. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  15. How do you ________________ your surname?
  16. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  17. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  18. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  19. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  20. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  21. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  22. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  23. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  24. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. spring — a coil
  3. shower — rain
  4. spell — a short time
  5. track — a song
  6. fall — to drop
  7. fall — to drop
  8. fall — the season
  9. track — to keep track
  10. wind — to turn a key
  11. spell — magic
  12. deal — an agreement
  13. kid — to tease
  14. wind — moving air
  15. spell — letters
  16. spring — of water
  17. spring — the season
  18. kid — child
  19. track — a path
  20. shower — to wash
  21. deal — to handle
  22. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  23. deal — a big deal
  24. shower — a meteor shower

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