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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: rash · bat · dip · chest · fork · lean · hand · spell

  1. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  2. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  5. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  6. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  7. Don't do anything ________________.
  8. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  9. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  10. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  11. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  12. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  15. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  16. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  17. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  18. How do you ________________ your surname?
  19. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  22. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  23. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  24. I got dealt a bad ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fork — a garden tool
  2. rash — a series
  3. bat — for baseball
  4. chest — of your body
  5. fork — to eat with
  6. spell — magic
  7. rash — hasty
  8. hand — help
  9. lean — thin
  10. lean — to rest against
  11. spell — a short time
  12. dip — to sink
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. lean — to bend
  15. chest — of your body
  16. fork — in a road
  17. dip — to dunk
  18. spell — letters
  19. dip — a sauce
  20. bat — the animal
  21. hand — part of the body
  22. chest — a box
  23. rash — on the skin
  24. hand — in cards

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