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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. That must've been a ________________.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  4. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  5. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  6. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  7. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  8. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  9. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  10. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  11. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  12. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  15. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  16. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  17. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  18. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  19. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  20. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  21. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  22. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — a thrill
  2. bat — the animal
  3. snap — to click
  4. squash — the vegetable
  5. shower — to wash
  6. fork — to eat with
  7. rush — hurry
  8. squash — the sport
  9. rush — to hurry
  10. bore — gave birth
  11. bore — to tire
  12. chest — a box
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. fork — in a road
  15. chest — of your body
  16. bore — to drill
  17. shower — a meteor shower
  18. shower — rain
  19. snap — to speak sharply
  20. fork — a garden tool
  21. snap — to snap out of it
  22. chest — of your body
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. squash — to crush

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