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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: capital · mouse · bat · chair · tear · shower · chest · date

  1. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  2. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  5. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  8. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  9. Have you settled on a ________________?
  10. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  11. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  12. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  13. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  14. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  15. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  16. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  17. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  18. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  19. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  20. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  21. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  24. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — to rip
  2. chest — of your body
  3. bat — the animal
  4. mouse — for a computer
  5. shower — a meteor shower
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. chair — a leader
  8. capital — a city
  9. date — on the calendar
  10. mouse — the animal
  11. chest — of your body
  12. capital — a big letter
  13. shower — to wash
  14. chest — a box
  15. shower — rain
  16. capital — money
  17. tear — from crying
  18. chair — to sit on
  19. tear — from crying
  20. date — on the calendar
  21. mouse — the animal
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. chair — a professorship
  24. date — the fruit

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