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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 · pitcher · bat · saw · mine · sharp · mouse · hand

  1. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  2. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  4. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  5. She's very handy with a ________________.
  6. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  9. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  10. He is an ace ________________.
  11. He works in a ________________ mill.
  12. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  13. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  14. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  15. It's one o'clock ________________.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  18. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  19. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  20. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  21. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  22. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  23. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  24. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — for baseball
  2. shower — to wash
  3. mouse — the animal
  4. hand — part of the body
  5. saw — the tool
  6. mine — belonging to me
  7. bat — the animal
  8. shower — rain
  9. mine — for digging
  10. pitcher — in baseball
  11. saw — the tool
  12. mouse — the animal
  13. hand — help
  14. mine — an explosive
  15. sharp — exactly
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. mouse — for a computer
  18. shower — a meteor shower
  19. saw — past of 'see'
  20. pitcher — a jug
  21. sharp — clever
  22. sharp — with an edge
  23. hand — in cards
  24. pitcher — a jug

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