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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 had a ________________ with my boss today.
  2. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  3. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. He is an ace ________________.
  6. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  7. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  8. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  14. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  15. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  16. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  17. My father caught me by the ________________.
  18. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  19. It's one o'clock ________________.
  20. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  23. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  24. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a quarrel
  2. row — a line
  3. arm — part of the body
  4. bat — the animal
  5. pitcher — in baseball
  6. shower — rain
  7. fan — to cool the air
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. fan — a supporter
  11. field — a subject
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. sharp — with an edge
  14. shower — to wash
  15. fan — a supporter
  16. shower — a meteor shower
  17. arm — part of the body
  18. arm — a part of something
  19. sharp — exactly
  20. pitcher — a jug
  21. field — for sport
  22. row — to paddle
  23. sharp — clever
  24. field — farmland

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