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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: cold · squash · leaves · pound · shower · pop · wind · straw

  1. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  2. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  3. We're almost out of ________________.
  4. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  7. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  8. You don't need to ________________ round.
  9. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  10. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  11. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  12. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  17. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  18. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  19. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  20. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  21. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  22. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  23. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  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. straw — dry grass
  3. pop — soda
  4. straw — a straw man
  5. cold — not warm
  6. wind — to turn a key
  7. squash — the sport
  8. pop — to visit
  9. leaves — to go away
  10. wind — moving air
  11. squash — the vegetable
  12. squash — to crush
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. leaves — of a tree
  15. cold — an illness
  16. leaves — lets stay
  17. straw — to clutch at straws
  18. pop — music
  19. pound — for dogs
  20. shower — to wash
  21. pound — a weight
  22. pound — to hit hard
  23. shower — rain
  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