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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. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  4. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  5. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  6. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  7. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  8. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  9. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  10. How do you ________________ your surname?
  11. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  12. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  13. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  14. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  15. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  16. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  17. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  18. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  19. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  22. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  23. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  24. I don't want to ________________ the boat.

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

Answer key

  1. mark — to pay attention
  2. kid — to tease
  3. shower — a meteor shower
  4. spell — magic
  5. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  6. kid — child
  7. shower — rain
  8. chest — of your body
  9. chest — a box
  10. spell — letters
  11. mark — a trace
  12. current — of water
  13. chest — of your body
  14. current — electric
  15. bat — the animal
  16. shower — to wash
  17. current — happening now
  18. rock — a stone
  19. spell — a short time
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. mark — a grade
  22. rock — music
  23. bat — in an idiom
  24. rock — to move gently

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