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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. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  3. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  4. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  5. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  6. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  7. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  8. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  9. Have you settled on a ________________?
  10. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  11. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  12. My father caught me by the ________________.
  13. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  14. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  15. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  16. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  17. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  18. There's no middle ________________.
  19. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  20. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  21. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  22. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  23. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  24. He's taking a ________________ right now.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — in an idiom
  2. trunk — of an elephant
  3. trunk — of a tree
  4. hand — part of the body
  5. bat — for baseball
  6. hand — help
  7. hand — in cards
  8. ground — the earth
  9. date — on the calendar
  10. date — on the calendar
  11. scale — for weighing
  12. arm — part of the body
  13. scale — size or range
  14. ground — crushed
  15. bat — the animal
  16. trunk — of a car
  17. shower — a meteor shower
  18. ground — a position
  19. arm — a part of something
  20. scale — in music
  21. date — the fruit
  22. arm — part of the body
  23. shower — rain
  24. shower — to wash

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