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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. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  3. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  4. There's no middle ________________.
  5. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. She's very handy with a ________________.
  8. When are we going to ________________?
  9. When was this ________________ built?
  10. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  11. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  12. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  13. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  14. He works in a ________________ mill.
  15. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  16. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  17. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  19. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  22. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  23. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  24. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. snap — to snap out of it
  3. land — ground
  4. ground — a position
  5. land — a country
  6. bat — the animal
  7. saw — the tool
  8. land — to come down
  9. temple — a place of worship
  10. club — for golf
  11. temple — a place of worship
  12. club — a group
  13. shower — rain
  14. saw — the tool
  15. saw — past of 'see'
  16. snap — to speak sharply
  17. club — for dancing
  18. bat — in an idiom
  19. ground — crushed
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. shower — a meteor shower
  22. ground — the earth
  23. snap — to click
  24. temple — side of the head

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