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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 120 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: tear · shower · scale · pitcher · hand · net · arm · cabinet

  1. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  4. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  5. My father caught me by the ________________.
  6. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  7. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  8. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  9. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  10. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  11. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  12. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  13. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  14. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  15. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  16. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  17. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  18. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  19. He is an ace ________________.
  20. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  21. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  22. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  23. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  24. What do you think of the new ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. arm — part of the body
  2. hand — help
  3. cabinet — ministers
  4. shower — a meteor shower
  5. arm — part of the body
  6. scale — in music
  7. net — after costs
  8. tear — to rip
  9. scale — for weighing
  10. shower — to wash
  11. hand — in cards
  12. net — in sport
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. tear — from crying
  15. net — for catching
  16. shower — rain
  17. tear — from crying
  18. cabinet — a cupboard
  19. pitcher — in baseball
  20. arm — a part of something
  21. hand — part of the body
  22. scale — size or range
  23. pitcher — a jug
  24. cabinet — ministers

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