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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. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  2. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  3. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  4. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  5. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  6. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  7. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  8. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  9. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  10. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  11. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  12. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  13. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  16. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  17. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  18. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  19. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  20. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  21. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  24. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — an explosive
  2. shower — rain
  3. mine — for digging
  4. content — the amount
  5. shower — to wash
  6. squash — the sport
  7. mine — belonging to me
  8. hand — in cards
  9. wind — to turn a key
  10. wind — moving air
  11. hand — part of the body
  12. squash — to crush
  13. bat — for baseball
  14. bat — the animal
  15. hand — help
  16. content — happy
  17. content — videos and posts
  18. squash — the vegetable
  19. wind — moving air
  20. rest — what's left
  21. shower — a meteor shower
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. rest — a break
  24. rest — what's left

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