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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 120 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: patient · kick · bat · cell · shower · stick · land · arm

  1. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  2. When are we going to ________________?
  3. He was locked up in a ________________.
  4. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  5. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  6. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  9. My father caught me by the ________________.
  10. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  11. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  12. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  13. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  14. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  15. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  16. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  17. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  18. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  19. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  20. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  21. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  22. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  23. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. kick — a thrill
  2. land — to come down
  3. cell — in a prison
  4. arm — part of the body
  5. cell — a phone
  6. kick — with a leg
  7. bat — the animal
  8. land — a country
  9. arm — part of the body
  10. patient — calm and waiting
  11. shower — a meteor shower
  12. shower — to wash
  13. cell — in biology
  14. stick — to attach or keep to
  15. kick — in football
  16. patient — a sick person
  17. stick — a piece of wood
  18. stick — a piece of wood
  19. bat — in an idiom
  20. patient — a sick person
  21. land — ground
  22. arm — a part of something
  23. shower — rain
  24. bat — for baseball

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