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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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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: bat · date · wind · fall · shower · content

  1. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  5. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  6. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  7. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  8. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  9. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  10. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  11. Have you settled on a ________________?
  12. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  13. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  18. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. content — videos and posts
  3. content — happy
  4. fall — the season
  5. shower — rain
  6. wind — moving air
  7. shower — a meteor shower
  8. date — on the calendar
  9. fall — to drop
  10. bat — the animal
  11. date — on the calendar
  12. content — the amount
  13. wind — to turn a key
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. fall — to drop
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. date — the fruit
  18. wind — moving air

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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