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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: hand · chest · shower · spell · staff · snap · ground · object

  1. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  3. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  4. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  5. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  6. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  7. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  8. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  9. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  10. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  11. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  12. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  13. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  14. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  15. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  16. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  17. How do you ________________ your surname?
  18. There's no middle ________________.
  19. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  20. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  21. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  22. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  23. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  24. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. snap — to speak sharply
  3. shower — rain
  4. object — to protest
  5. snap — to click
  6. spell — magic
  7. ground — the earth
  8. chest — of your body
  9. staff — a stick
  10. ground — crushed
  11. staff — employees
  12. hand — help
  13. snap — to snap out of it
  14. spell — a short time
  15. chest — of your body
  16. shower — a meteor shower
  17. spell — letters
  18. ground — a position
  19. staff — employees
  20. hand — part of the body
  21. chest — a box
  22. hand — in cards
  23. object — an aim
  24. object — a thing

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