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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 116 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. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  2. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  4. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  5. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  6. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  7. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  8. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  9. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  10. That was a fun ________________.
  11. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  14. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  17. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  18. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  19. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  20. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  21. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  22. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  23. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  24. There's no middle ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — the animal
  2. shower — to wash
  3. club — for golf
  4. snap — to snap out of it
  5. kid — to tease
  6. snap — to speak sharply
  7. kid — child
  8. game — a kind of play
  9. stem — to come from
  10. game — a match
  11. club — for dancing
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  14. shower — a meteor shower
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. ground — crushed
  17. shower — rain
  18. club — a group
  19. stem — of a plant
  20. game — wild animals
  21. ground — the earth
  22. stem — a stem cell
  23. snap — to click
  24. ground — a position

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