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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 · snap · kid · march · toast · bat · foot · trunk

  1. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  4. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  5. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  6. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  7. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  8. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  9. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  10. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  11. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  12. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  13. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  16. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  17. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  18. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  19. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  20. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  21. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  22. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  23. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  24. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — for baseball
  2. bat — the animal
  3. march — the month
  4. march — music
  5. snap — to speak sharply
  6. shower — a meteor shower
  7. foot — part of the body
  8. trunk — of a car
  9. toast — bread
  10. shower — to wash
  11. toast — a drink to someone
  12. snap — to click
  13. toast — the most admired
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. snap — to snap out of it
  16. march — the month
  17. foot — a measure
  18. trunk — of a tree
  19. trunk — of an elephant
  20. shower — rain
  21. kid — to tease
  22. foot — the bottom
  23. bat — in an idiom
  24. kid — child

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