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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: hand · nail · shower · chest · spring · fan · club · squash

  1. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  2. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  5. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  6. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  7. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  8. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  9. The ________________ went through the wall.
  10. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  11. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  12. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  13. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  14. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  15. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  16. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  17. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  18. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  19. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  20. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  21. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  24. Can you turn the ________________ on?

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

Answer key

  1. club — for golf
  2. hand — part of the body
  3. chest — of your body
  4. nail — for a hammer
  5. spring — of water
  6. club — for dancing
  7. club — a group
  8. hand — help
  9. nail — for a hammer
  10. squash — the vegetable
  11. chest — of your body
  12. fan — a supporter
  13. squash — to crush
  14. squash — the sport
  15. nail — on a finger
  16. shower — to wash
  17. hand — in cards
  18. fan — a supporter
  19. spring — the season
  20. chest — a box
  21. spring — a coil
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. shower — rain
  24. fan — to cool the air

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