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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: shower · hand · sharp · spring · plane · rush · arm · land

  1. My father caught me by the ________________.
  2. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  3. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  4. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  5. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  6. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  7. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  8. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  9. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  10. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  11. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  12. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  13. It's one o'clock ________________.
  14. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  15. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  16. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  17. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  18. The ________________ took off on time.
  19. When are we going to ________________?
  20. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  21. That must've been a ________________.
  22. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  23. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  24. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.

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

Answer key

  1. arm — part of the body
  2. arm — part of the body
  3. hand — help
  4. spring — of water
  5. land — a country
  6. land — ground
  7. sharp — clever
  8. rush — hurry
  9. plane — in geometry
  10. spring — the season
  11. arm — a part of something
  12. sharp — with an edge
  13. sharp — exactly
  14. shower — a meteor shower
  15. hand — part of the body
  16. hand — in cards
  17. shower — to wash
  18. plane — an aircraft
  19. land — to come down
  20. shower — rain
  21. rush — a thrill
  22. rush — to hurry
  23. plane — a tool
  24. spring — a coil

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