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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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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 · cold · rash · tear · calf · arm · mouse · bat

  1. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  2. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  3. Don't do anything ________________.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  6. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  9. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  10. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  14. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. My father caught me by the ________________.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  19. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  20. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  21. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  22. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  23. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  24. We took cover from the thunder ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — a meteor shower
  2. mouse — the animal
  3. rash — hasty
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. arm — part of the body
  6. calf — of the leg
  7. bat — the animal
  8. calf — a young animal
  9. mouse — for a computer
  10. rash — on the skin
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. shower — to wash
  14. tear — from crying
  15. cold — not warm
  16. arm — part of the body
  17. cold — an illness
  18. tear — from crying
  19. rash — a series
  20. arm — a part of something
  21. calf — a young animal
  22. tear — to rip
  23. mouse — the animal
  24. shower — rain

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