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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. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  2. There's no middle ________________.
  3. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  4. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  5. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  8. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  9. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  10. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  11. The King held a masked ________________.
  12. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  13. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  16. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  17. When are we going to ________________?
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. The ball is in your ________________.
  20. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  21. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  22. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  23. My father caught me by the ________________.
  24. Add some ________________ pepper to it.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — in an idiom
  2. ground — a position
  3. land — a country
  4. shower — to wash
  5. land — ground
  6. bat — the animal
  7. arm — a part of something
  8. court — of law
  9. shower — a meteor shower
  10. hand — part of the body
  11. ball — a dance
  12. arm — part of the body
  13. ball — a great time
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. hand — help
  16. ground — the earth
  17. land — to come down
  18. hand — in cards
  19. court — for sport
  20. ball — a round shape
  21. court — of a king
  22. shower — rain
  23. arm — part of the body
  24. ground — crushed

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