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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: rest · present · bat · wind · row · lie · shower · kid

  1. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  2. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  3. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  6. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  7. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  8. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  9. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  10. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  11. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  12. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  13. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  17. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  18. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  19. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  20. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  23. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — a meteor shower
  2. present — there
  3. present — a gift
  4. kid — to tease
  5. wind — to turn a key
  6. lie — an untruth
  7. lie — an untruth
  8. rest — a break
  9. wind — moving air
  10. row — to paddle
  11. rest — what's left
  12. row — a line
  13. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. kid — child
  16. shower — rain
  17. wind — moving air
  18. shower — to wash
  19. row — a quarrel
  20. rest — what's left
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. lie — to recline
  23. present — the time now
  24. bat — the animal

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