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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. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  2. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  3. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  4. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  7. I'll be taking the ________________.
  8. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  9. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  10. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  11. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  12. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  13. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  16. That must've been a ________________.
  17. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  18. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  19. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  20. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  21. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  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. shower — rain
  2. rush — hurry
  3. shower — to wash
  4. squash — the sport
  5. hand — help
  6. rest — what's left
  7. tube — the underground
  8. branch — a division
  9. shower — a meteor shower
  10. tube — in a tire
  11. tube — a container
  12. branch — of a bank
  13. rush — to hurry
  14. bat — the animal
  15. hand — part of the body
  16. rush — a thrill
  17. squash — the vegetable
  18. squash — to crush
  19. branch — of a tree
  20. bat — in an idiom
  21. rest — a break
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. hand — in cards
  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