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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 hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  2. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  3. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  4. He was locked up in a ________________.
  5. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  8. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  9. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  10. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  11. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  12. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  13. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  14. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  15. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  16. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  17. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  18. That must've been a ________________.
  19. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  20. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  21. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — part of the body
  2. band — a ring
  3. cell — a phone
  4. cell — in a prison
  5. hand — in cards
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. firm — a company
  8. kid — child
  9. shower — to wash
  10. firm — decided
  11. firm — steady
  12. kid — to tease
  13. shower — rain
  14. band — a music group
  15. cell — in biology
  16. hand — help
  17. rush — hurry
  18. rush — a thrill
  19. rush — to hurry
  20. shower — a meteor shower
  21. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  22. bat — the animal
  23. band — a rubber band
  24. bat — for baseball

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