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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. He is an ace ________________.
  2. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  3. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  4. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  5. She's very handy with a ________________.
  6. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  7. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  8. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  9. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  10. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  11. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  12. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  13. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  14. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  15. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  16. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  17. The ________________ market has crashed.
  18. He works in a ________________ mill.
  19. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  20. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  21. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  22. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  23. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  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. pitcher — in baseball
  2. row — a line
  3. shower — to wash
  4. fall — the season
  5. saw — the tool
  6. spring — the season
  7. fall — to drop
  8. spring — a coil
  9. pitcher — a jug
  10. pitcher — a jug
  11. hand — in cards
  12. stock — a soup base
  13. saw — past of 'see'
  14. spring — of water
  15. stock — goods
  16. row — a quarrel
  17. stock — shares
  18. saw — the tool
  19. hand — help
  20. shower — rain
  21. row — to paddle
  22. hand — part of the body
  23. fall — to drop
  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