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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. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  2. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  3. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  4. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  5. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  6. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  7. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  8. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  9. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  10. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  13. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  14. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  17. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  18. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  19. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  20. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  24. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — a supporter
  2. trunk — of an elephant
  3. bowl — a football final
  4. spring — of water
  5. fan — a supporter
  6. shower — to wash
  7. shower — a meteor shower
  8. trunk — of a tree
  9. bowl — a dish
  10. wound — an injury
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. wound — an injury
  13. spring — the season
  14. foot — a measure
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. foot — part of the body
  17. bowl — to roll
  18. trunk — of a car
  19. fan — to cool the air
  20. wound — past of 'wind'
  21. shower — rain
  22. bat — the animal
  23. spring — a coil
  24. foot — the bottom

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