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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. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  2. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  3. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  4. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  5. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  6. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  7. When are we going to ________________?
  8. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  9. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  10. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  11. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  12. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  13. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  16. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  17. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  18. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  19. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  20. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  21. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  22. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  23. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  24. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — rain
  2. lean — thin
  3. lean — to bend
  4. chest — a box
  5. drill — the tool
  6. kid — child
  7. land — to come down
  8. staff — employees
  9. land — a country
  10. shower — to wash
  11. staff — employees
  12. squash — the sport
  13. land — ground
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. staff — a stick
  16. squash — to crush
  17. chest — of your body
  18. kid — to tease
  19. drill — a practice
  20. lean — to rest against
  21. shower — a meteor shower
  22. drill — army training
  23. chest — of your body
  24. squash — the vegetable

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