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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. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  2. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  3. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  4. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  5. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  6. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  7. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  8. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  9. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. We're on a ________________ here.
  12. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  13. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  14. The tickets are free of ________________.
  15. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  16. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  17. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  18. Have you settled on a ________________?
  19. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  20. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  21. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  22. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  23. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  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. charge — electricity
  2. chest — of your body
  3. lean — thin
  4. hand — help
  5. lean — to bend
  6. date — on the calendar
  7. shower — a meteor shower
  8. charge — in control
  9. shower — to wash
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. roll — on a roll
  12. chest — a box
  13. chest — of your body
  14. charge — a price
  15. bat — the animal
  16. hand — in cards
  17. shower — rain
  18. date — on the calendar
  19. roll — a cake
  20. lean — to rest against
  21. date — the fruit
  22. hand — part of the body
  23. roll — a list
  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