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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. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  2. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  3. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  4. When will it ________________ you to start?
  5. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  6. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  7. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  8. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  9. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  10. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  11. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  14. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  15. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  16. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  17. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  18. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  19. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  20. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  21. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  22. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  23. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  24. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — for baseball
  2. suit — in cards
  3. hide — to keep secret
  4. suit — to fit
  5. shower — to wash
  6. net — after costs
  7. net — for catching
  8. fork — to eat with
  9. fork — a garden tool
  10. shower — rain
  11. hide — to keep secret
  12. bat — the animal
  13. suit — clothes
  14. fork — in a road
  15. net — in sport
  16. wound — an injury
  17. file — a tool
  18. wound — past of 'wind'
  19. wound — an injury
  20. bat — in an idiom
  21. file — a document
  22. file — a line of people
  23. hide — animal skin
  24. shower — a meteor shower

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