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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's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  3. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  4. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  5. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  6. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  7. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  8. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  9. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  10. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  11. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  12. The ball is in your ________________.
  13. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  14. The ________________ took off on time.
  15. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  16. David sat on the ________________.
  17. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  18. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  19. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  20. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  21. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  22. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  23. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  24. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. trunk — of an elephant
  3. march — the month
  4. trunk — of a tree
  5. march — music
  6. hand — part of the body
  7. swing — in golf
  8. march — the month
  9. hand — help
  10. court — of a king
  11. lash — an eyelash
  12. court — for sport
  13. plane — a tool
  14. plane — an aircraft
  15. shower — a meteor shower
  16. swing — to play on
  17. hand — in cards
  18. shower — rain
  19. swing — music
  20. court — of law
  21. lash — to lash out
  22. trunk — of a car
  23. lash — a whip stroke
  24. plane — in geometry

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