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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: last · shower · mine · saw · ball · calf · tear · bat

  1. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  3. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  4. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  5. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  6. He works in a ________________ mill.
  7. She's very handy with a ________________.
  8. False peace will not ________________.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  11. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. The King held a masked ________________.
  14. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  15. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  16. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  17. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  18. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  19. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  20. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  21. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  22. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  23. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  24. He's taking a ________________ right now.

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

Answer key

  1. last — final
  2. calf — a young animal
  3. ball — a great time
  4. shower — rain
  5. mine — for digging
  6. saw — the tool
  7. saw — the tool
  8. last — to go on
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. calf — a young animal
  11. saw — past of 'see'
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. ball — a dance
  14. mine — an explosive
  15. ball — a round shape
  16. mine — belonging to me
  17. bat — the animal
  18. tear — to rip
  19. last — finally
  20. shower — a meteor shower
  21. tear — from crying
  22. tear — from crying
  23. calf — of the leg
  24. shower — to wash

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