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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 116 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. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  4. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  5. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  6. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  7. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  8. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  9. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  10. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  11. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  12. I can't ________________ this cold.
  13. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  14. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  15. He is an ace ________________.
  16. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  17. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  18. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  19. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  20. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  21. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  24. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. hand — help
  3. pitcher — a jug
  4. race — humankind
  5. rock — music
  6. rock — a stone
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. scale — size or range
  9. scale — in music
  10. rock — to move gently
  11. hand — in cards
  12. stand — to bear
  13. trunk — of a car
  14. shower — rain
  15. pitcher — in baseball
  16. stand — on your feet
  17. stand — for spectators
  18. scale — for weighing
  19. trunk — of an elephant
  20. trunk — of a tree
  21. race — a contest
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. hand — part of the body
  24. race — the arms race

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