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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. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  2. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  5. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  6. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  7. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  8. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  9. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  10. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  11. Did you ________________ the meat?
  12. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  13. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  14. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  15. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  16. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  17. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  18. That must've been a ________________.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — to hurry
  2. staff — employees
  3. bat — for baseball
  4. staff — a stick
  5. squash — to crush
  6. season — of the year
  7. shower — to wash
  8. chest — a box
  9. staff — employees
  10. chest — of your body
  11. season — to add flavour
  12. squash — the vegetable
  13. file — a tool
  14. shower — rain
  15. file — a document
  16. season — in sport
  17. chest — of your body
  18. rush — a thrill
  19. bat — the animal
  20. rush — hurry
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. squash — the sport
  23. file — a line of people
  24. shower — a meteor shower

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