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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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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 · lash · bowl · shower · rest · cold · chest · bat

  1. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  2. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  5. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  8. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  9. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  10. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  11. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  12. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  13. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  14. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  15. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  16. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  17. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  19. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  20. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — to roll
  2. shower — rain
  3. content — happy
  4. shower — a meteor shower
  5. lash — an eyelash
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. rest — a break
  8. rest — what's left
  9. rest — what's left
  10. bat — the animal
  11. chest — of your body
  12. content — videos and posts
  13. shower — to wash
  14. chest — of your body
  15. lash — a whip stroke
  16. lash — to lash out
  17. bowl — a football final
  18. bat — in an idiom
  19. content — the amount
  20. bowl — a dish
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. cold — an illness
  23. cold — not warm
  24. chest — a box

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