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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: bat · bowl · tube · hide · hand · pop · rash · scale

  1. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  2. You don't need to ________________ round.
  3. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  4. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  5. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  6. Don't do anything ________________.
  7. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  8. We're almost out of ________________.
  9. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  10. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  11. I'll be taking the ________________.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  15. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  16. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  17. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  18. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  19. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  20. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  21. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  22. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.

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

Answer key

  1. hide — to keep secret
  2. pop — to visit
  3. bowl — to roll
  4. pop — music
  5. scale — in music
  6. rash — hasty
  7. hide — to keep secret
  8. pop — soda
  9. bowl — a football final
  10. hide — animal skin
  11. tube — the underground
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. bat — the animal
  14. tube — in a tire
  15. rash — on the skin
  16. bowl — a dish
  17. scale — size or range
  18. scale — for weighing
  19. tube — a container
  20. hand — help
  21. hand — part of the body
  22. hand — in cards
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. rash — a series

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