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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. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  2. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  3. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  4. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  5. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  6. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  7. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  8. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  9. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  10. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  11. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  12. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  15. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  16. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  17. My father caught me by the ________________.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  21. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  22. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  23. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  24. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.

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

Answer key

  1. drill — the tool
  2. arm — part of the body
  3. kid — to tease
  4. wake — a trail
  5. pound — to hit hard
  6. kid — child
  7. shower — a meteor shower
  8. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  9. drill — a practice
  10. wind — moving air
  11. shower — rain
  12. arm — a part of something
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. shower — to wash
  15. wake — before a funeral
  16. wake — to stop sleeping
  17. arm — part of the body
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. bat — the animal
  20. wind — to turn a key
  21. wind — moving air
  22. pound — a weight
  23. pound — for dogs
  24. drill — army training

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