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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 · hand · track · ruler · chest · craft · bat · current

  1. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  2. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  3. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  4. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  5. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  6. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  7. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  8. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  9. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  10. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  11. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  12. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  13. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  14. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  15. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  18. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  21. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  22. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  23. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  24. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.

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

Answer key

  1. track — to keep track
  2. chest — of your body
  3. bat — in an idiom
  4. ruler — for measuring
  5. hand — part of the body
  6. ruler — for measuring
  7. hand — in cards
  8. current — electric
  9. track — a path
  10. shower — a meteor shower
  11. shower — to wash
  12. craft — boats
  13. craft — a handicraft
  14. ruler — a monarch
  15. shower — rain
  16. bat — the animal
  17. chest — of your body
  18. current — of water
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. chest — a box
  21. track — a song
  22. hand — help
  23. craft — a skill
  24. current — happening now

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