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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: shower · pitch · bore · plane · bat · hand · rest · file

  1. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  2. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  3. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  4. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  5. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  6. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  7. The ________________ took off on time.
  8. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  9. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  10. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  13. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  14. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  15. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  16. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  17. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  18. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  19. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  20. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  21. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  22. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — in an idiom
  2. bore — to tire
  3. hand — in cards
  4. pitch — a sales talk
  5. pitch — a sports field
  6. rest — a break
  7. plane — an aircraft
  8. plane — a tool
  9. file — a document
  10. pitch — completely
  11. bat — the animal
  12. hand — help
  13. shower — a meteor shower
  14. bore — gave birth
  15. rest — what's left
  16. hand — part of the body
  17. bat — for baseball
  18. file — a tool
  19. shower — rain
  20. plane — in geometry
  21. rest — what's left
  22. shower — to wash
  23. file — a line of people
  24. bore — to drill

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