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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: pitcher · bat · shower · lash · court · cell · prune · face

  1. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  2. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  3. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  4. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  5. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  6. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  7. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  8. The ball is in your ________________.
  9. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  10. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  11. He is an ace ________________.
  12. He was locked up in a ________________.
  13. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  14. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  15. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  18. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  21. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  24. The spa offers ________________ extensions.

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

Answer key

  1. lash — to lash out
  2. face — to confront
  3. prune — to trim
  4. cell — a phone
  5. prune — the fruit
  6. shower — to wash
  7. court — of a king
  8. court — for sport
  9. pitcher — a jug
  10. cell — in biology
  11. pitcher — in baseball
  12. cell — in a prison
  13. court — of law
  14. pitcher — a jug
  15. lash — a whip stroke
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. face — to point toward
  18. face — part of the head
  19. bat — the animal
  20. shower — rain
  21. shower — a meteor shower
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. prune — to trim
  24. lash — an eyelash

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