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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 hit the ball with his ________________.
  2. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  3. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  4. The ________________ took off on time.
  5. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  8. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  9. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  10. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  11. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  12. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  13. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  14. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  15. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  16. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  17. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  18. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  22. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  23. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  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. racket — for tennis
  2. hand — part of the body
  3. toast — a drink to someone
  4. plane — an aircraft
  5. wind — moving air
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. racket — a loud noise
  8. plane — a tool
  9. racket — for tennis
  10. toast — bread
  11. file — a line of people
  12. wind — to turn a key
  13. file — a tool
  14. wind — moving air
  15. file — a document
  16. shower — rain
  17. plane — in geometry
  18. hand — help
  19. bat — the animal
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. shower — to wash
  22. hand — in cards
  23. toast — the most admired
  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