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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: drill · bat · cold · shower · mug · present · pitcher · racket

  1. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  2. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  3. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  4. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  5. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  8. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  9. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  13. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  14. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  15. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  16. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  19. Where did you ________________ them?
  20. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  21. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. He is an ace ________________.
  24. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.

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

Answer key

  1. present — there
  2. present — a gift
  3. racket — a loud noise
  4. racket — for tennis
  5. racket — for tennis
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. mug — a face
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. mug — a cup
  10. cold — not warm
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. pitcher — a jug
  13. present — the time now
  14. shower — rain
  15. bat — the animal
  16. drill — the tool
  17. cold — an illness
  18. shower — to wash
  19. mug — to rob
  20. drill — a practice
  21. shower — a meteor shower
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. pitcher — in baseball
  24. drill — army training

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