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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. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  2. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  3. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  4. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  5. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  6. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  7. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  8. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  9. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  10. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  11. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  12. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  13. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  14. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  15. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  16. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  17. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  18. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  19. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  20. How do you ________________ your surname?
  21. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  22. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  23. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  24. A ________________ is just a dried plum.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — a straw man
  2. fine — all right
  3. hand — help
  4. shower — rain
  5. fan — a supporter
  6. kid — to tease
  7. straw — dry grass
  8. kid — child
  9. spell — magic
  10. hand — part of the body
  11. fan — a supporter
  12. shower — to wash
  13. hand — in cards
  14. spell — a short time
  15. straw — to clutch at straws
  16. shower — a meteor shower
  17. prune — to trim
  18. fine — high quality
  19. prune — to trim
  20. spell — letters
  21. fan — to cool the air
  22. fine — a penalty
  23. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  24. prune — the fruit

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