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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 · key · bass · chest · shower · row · rash · game

  1. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  2. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  5. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  6. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  9. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. Don't do anything ________________.
  12. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  13. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  14. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  17. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  18. This piece is in a major ________________.
  19. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  20. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  21. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  22. That was a fun ________________.
  23. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  24. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — for baseball
  2. row — a quarrel
  3. chest — of your body
  4. bass — the instrument
  5. row — to paddle
  6. bass — low music
  7. bat — the animal
  8. rash — on the skin
  9. shower — to wash
  10. chest — a box
  11. rash — hasty
  12. key — the most important part
  13. chest — of your body
  14. game — wild animals
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. key — for a lock
  17. bass — the fish
  18. key — in music
  19. shower — rain
  20. rash — a series
  21. shower — a meteor shower
  22. game — a match
  23. game — a kind of play
  24. row — a line

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