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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. Don't do anything ________________.
  2. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  4. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  5. That was a fun ________________.
  6. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  7. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  8. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  9. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  10. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  11. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  12. He was locked up in a ________________.
  13. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  14. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  15. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  16. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  17. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  18. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  19. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  20. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  21. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  22. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  23. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  24. He has no idea where the ________________ is.

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

Answer key

  1. rash — hasty
  2. shower — to wash
  3. row — a line
  4. chest — of your body
  5. game — a match
  6. safe — out of danger
  7. dip — a sauce
  8. chest — of your body
  9. dip — to sink
  10. cell — a phone
  11. game — a kind of play
  12. cell — in a prison
  13. row — a quarrel
  14. cell — in biology
  15. dip — to dunk
  16. chest — a box
  17. shower — a meteor shower
  18. shower — rain
  19. row — to paddle
  20. rash — on the skin
  21. safe — out of danger
  22. game — wild animals
  23. rash — a series
  24. safe — a strongbox

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