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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. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  3. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  4. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  5. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  6. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  7. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  8. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  9. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  10. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  11. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  12. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  13. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  14. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  15. False peace will not ________________.
  16. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  17. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  18. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  19. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  20. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  21. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  22. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  23. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  24. That must've been a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. last — final
  2. foot — part of the body
  3. kid — child
  4. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  5. kid — to tease
  6. hand — help
  7. rush — to hurry
  8. last — finally
  9. hand — in cards
  10. hand — part of the body
  11. shower — rain
  12. foot — the bottom
  13. perch — for a bird
  14. perch — for a bird
  15. last — to go on
  16. foot — a measure
  17. shower — to wash
  18. band — a music group
  19. band — a rubber band
  20. shower — a meteor shower
  21. rush — hurry
  22. perch — the fish
  23. band — a ring
  24. rush — a thrill

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