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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 120 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: land · file · chest · spell · plane · spring · straw · shower

  1. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  2. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  3. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  4. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  5. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  6. When are we going to ________________?
  7. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  8. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  9. The ________________ took off on time.
  10. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  11. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  12. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  13. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  14. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  15. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  16. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  17. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  18. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  19. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  20. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  21. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  22. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  23. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  24. How do you ________________ your surname?

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

Answer key

  1. shower — a meteor shower
  2. file — a document
  3. land — a country
  4. straw — a straw man
  5. spell — a short time
  6. land — to come down
  7. chest — of your body
  8. plane — in geometry
  9. plane — an aircraft
  10. chest — of your body
  11. spring — of water
  12. spring — the season
  13. shower — rain
  14. spring — a coil
  15. spell — magic
  16. file — a line of people
  17. plane — a tool
  18. straw — to clutch at straws
  19. chest — a box
  20. file — a tool
  21. land — ground
  22. shower — to wash
  23. straw — dry grass
  24. spell — letters

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