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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 116 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. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  3. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  4. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  5. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  6. It's one o'clock ________________.
  7. That was a fun ________________.
  8. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  9. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  10. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  11. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  12. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  13. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  14. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  15. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  16. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  17. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  18. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  19. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  20. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  21. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  22. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  23. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  24. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. game — a kind of play
  3. shower — to wash
  4. bowl — to roll
  5. bowl — a football final
  6. sharp — exactly
  7. game — a match
  8. shower — a meteor shower
  9. chair — a professorship
  10. chair — to sit on
  11. bowl — a dish
  12. wound — an injury
  13. lash — to lash out
  14. hand — in cards
  15. wound — past of 'wind'
  16. wound — an injury
  17. shower — rain
  18. game — wild animals
  19. lash — an eyelash
  20. hand — part of the body
  21. lash — a whip stroke
  22. sharp — clever
  23. sharp — with an edge
  24. chair — a leader

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