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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: face · shower · hand · straw · ball · prune · club · spring

  1. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  2. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  4. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  5. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  6. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  7. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  8. The King held a masked ________________.
  9. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  10. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  11. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  12. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  13. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  14. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  15. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  16. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  17. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  18. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  19. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  20. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  21. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  22. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  23. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  24. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to point toward
  2. shower — to wash
  3. hand — part of the body
  4. club — a group
  5. straw — dry grass
  6. prune — to trim
  7. ball — a great time
  8. ball — a dance
  9. club — for dancing
  10. face — to confront
  11. straw — a straw man
  12. straw — to clutch at straws
  13. face — part of the head
  14. spring — the season
  15. shower — a meteor shower
  16. shower — rain
  17. prune — to trim
  18. hand — help
  19. club — for golf
  20. hand — in cards
  21. prune — the fruit
  22. ball — a round shape
  23. spring — of water
  24. spring — a coil

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