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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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  2. She's very handy with a ________________.
  3. This piece is in a major ________________.
  4. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  5. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  6. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  9. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  10. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  11. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  12. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  13. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  14. He is an ace ________________.
  15. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  16. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  17. He works in a ________________ mill.
  18. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  19. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  20. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. saw — the tool
  3. key — in music
  4. mine — belonging to me
  5. saw — past of 'see'
  6. racket — for tennis
  7. cold — an illness
  8. key — the most important part
  9. mine — for digging
  10. key — for a lock
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. shower — to wash
  13. shower — a meteor shower
  14. pitcher — in baseball
  15. chest — a box
  16. chest — of your body
  17. saw — the tool
  18. shower — rain
  19. chest — of your body
  20. racket — for tennis
  21. cold — not warm
  22. mine — an explosive
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. racket — a loud noise

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