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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 116 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 · press · last · bat · snap · fan · rash · kid

  1. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  3. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  4. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  5. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  6. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  7. Did you ________________ the button?
  8. Don't do anything ________________.
  9. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  10. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  11. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  14. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  15. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  16. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  17. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  18. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  19. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  20. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  21. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  22. False peace will not ________________.
  23. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  24. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.

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

Answer key

  1. last — final
  2. snap — to speak sharply
  3. fan — a supporter
  4. rash — a series
  5. press — newspapers
  6. fan — to cool the air
  7. press — to push
  8. rash — hasty
  9. fan — a supporter
  10. kid — child
  11. snap — to snap out of it
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. shower — to wash
  14. shower — rain
  15. bat — the animal
  16. rash — on the skin
  17. last — finally
  18. shower — a meteor shower
  19. kid — to tease
  20. bat — in an idiom
  21. press — a publisher
  22. last — to go on
  23. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  24. snap — to click

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