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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: cabinet · hand · tear · shower · craft · bat · saw · last

  1. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  5. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  6. False peace will not ________________.
  7. She's very handy with a ________________.
  8. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  9. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  10. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  13. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  16. He works in a ________________ mill.
  17. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  18. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  19. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  20. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  21. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. What do you think of the new ________________?
  24. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.

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

Answer key

  1. craft — boats
  2. hand — help
  3. bat — the animal
  4. tear — to rip
  5. cabinet — a cupboard
  6. last — to go on
  7. saw — the tool
  8. craft — a handicraft
  9. last — finally
  10. cabinet — ministers
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. shower — rain
  13. tear — from crying
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. hand — part of the body
  16. saw — the tool
  17. hand — in cards
  18. saw — past of 'see'
  19. shower — to wash
  20. tear — from crying
  21. last — final
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. cabinet — ministers
  24. craft — a skill

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