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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 120 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. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  3. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  4. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  5. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  6. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  7. Where did you ________________ them?
  8. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  9. He works in a ________________ mill.
  10. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  11. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  12. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  13. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  14. How do you ________________ your surname?
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  17. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  21. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  24. She's very handy with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — rain
  2. saw — past of 'see'
  3. wax — to grow
  4. row — a line
  5. mug — a face
  6. wax — in the ear
  7. mug — to rob
  8. wax — for sculpting
  9. saw — the tool
  10. shower — to wash
  11. hand — help
  12. spell — a short time
  13. mug — a cup
  14. spell — letters
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. shower — a meteor shower
  17. hand — part of the body
  18. hand — in cards
  19. bat — the animal
  20. row — to paddle
  21. row — a quarrel
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. spell — magic
  24. saw — the tool

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