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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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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 · club · cold · drill · cell · can · straw · root

  1. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  2. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  5. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  6. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  7. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  10. He was locked up in a ________________.
  11. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  12. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  13. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  14. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  15. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  16. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  19. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  20. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  21. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  22. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  23. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  24. Recycle the empty soda ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. club — for dancing
  2. club — a group
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. cell — in biology
  5. straw — dry grass
  6. root — of a plant
  7. root — of a word
  8. cold — not warm
  9. club — for golf
  10. cell — in a prison
  11. can — to be able to
  12. cell — a phone
  13. can — a tin
  14. shower — a meteor shower
  15. root — the cause
  16. drill — the tool
  17. cold — an illness
  18. straw — to clutch at straws
  19. shower — rain
  20. drill — a practice
  21. drill — army training
  22. shower — to wash
  23. straw — a straw man
  24. can — a tin

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