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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: shower · mark · last · squash · hand · plane · spell · mine

  1. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  2. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  3. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  4. How do you ________________ your surname?
  5. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  6. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  7. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  8. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  9. The ________________ took off on time.
  10. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  11. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  12. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  13. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  14. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  15. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  16. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  17. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  20. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  21. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  22. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  23. False peace will not ________________.
  24. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — magic
  2. squash — to crush
  3. plane — a tool
  4. spell — letters
  5. shower — a meteor shower
  6. hand — help
  7. mine — for digging
  8. plane — in geometry
  9. plane — an aircraft
  10. last — final
  11. squash — the sport
  12. squash — the vegetable
  13. mark — to pay attention
  14. mark — a trace
  15. spell — a short time
  16. hand — part of the body
  17. shower — rain
  18. hand — in cards
  19. last — finally
  20. shower — to wash
  21. mark — a grade
  22. mine — an explosive
  23. last — to go on
  24. mine — belonging to me

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