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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. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  2. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  4. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  5. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  6. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  7. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  8. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  9. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  10. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  11. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  12. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  13. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  14. David sat on the ________________.
  15. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  16. That must've been a ________________.
  17. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  20. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  23. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  24. He keeps ________________ of his days.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — hurry
  2. shower — to wash
  3. drill — a practice
  4. track — a path
  5. pitch — a sales talk
  6. bore — to tire
  7. bore — gave birth
  8. bore — to drill
  9. shower — a meteor shower
  10. track — a song
  11. drill — the tool
  12. drill — army training
  13. pitch — a sports field
  14. swing — to play on
  15. pitch — completely
  16. rush — a thrill
  17. swing — in golf
  18. bat — the animal
  19. rush — to hurry
  20. bat — in an idiom
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. shower — rain
  23. swing — music
  24. track — to keep track

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