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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. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  2. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  3. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  4. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  7. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  10. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  11. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  12. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  13. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  14. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  15. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  16. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  17. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  18. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  19. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  20. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  21. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  22. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.

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

Answer key

  1. present — the time now
  2. shower — rain
  3. wound — an injury
  4. shower — a meteor shower
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. wound — past of 'wind'
  7. hand — help
  8. spring — the season
  9. shower — to wash
  10. bat — the animal
  11. wax — for sculpting
  12. wax — in the ear
  13. chip — in a computer
  14. spring — a coil
  15. hand — in cards
  16. hand — part of the body
  17. wound — an injury
  18. wax — to grow
  19. present — there
  20. spring — of water
  21. present — a gift
  22. chip — for betting
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. chip — to eat

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