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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: content · shower · row · season · date · arm · kick · bat

  1. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  4. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  5. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  6. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. Did you ________________ the meat?
  9. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  10. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  11. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  12. My father caught me by the ________________.
  13. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  14. Have you settled on a ________________?
  15. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  19. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  20. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  21. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  22. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  23. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  24. Check the label for the sugar ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kick — in football
  2. content — happy
  3. row — a quarrel
  4. season — of the year
  5. shower — a meteor shower
  6. shower — to wash
  7. bat — the animal
  8. season — to add flavour
  9. kick — with a leg
  10. kick — a thrill
  11. shower — rain
  12. arm — part of the body
  13. row — a line
  14. date — on the calendar
  15. date — the fruit
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. date — on the calendar
  19. season — in sport
  20. row — to paddle
  21. arm — a part of something
  22. arm — part of the body
  23. content — videos and posts
  24. content — the amount

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