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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. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  4. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. There's no middle ________________.
  7. The light ________________ burned out.
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  10. I've got to change the light ________________.
  11. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  15. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  16. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  19. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  20. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  23. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  24. The players ran onto the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. kid — to tease
  3. row — a quarrel
  4. shower — a meteor shower
  5. kid — child
  6. ground — a position
  7. bulb — for light
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. ground — the earth
  10. bulb — for light
  11. row — a line
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. bat — the animal
  14. pitch — a sales talk
  15. bulb — of a plant
  16. hide — to keep secret
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. pitch — completely
  19. ground — crushed
  20. row — to paddle
  21. shower — rain
  22. hide — to keep secret
  23. hide — animal skin
  24. pitch — a sports field

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