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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: swing · court · bat · nail · shower · prune · pop · bear

  1. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. You don't need to ________________ round.
  4. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  5. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  6. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  7. We're almost out of ________________.
  8. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  9. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  10. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  11. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  12. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  13. The ________________ went through the wall.
  14. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  15. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  16. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  17. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  18. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  19. David sat on the ________________.
  20. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  21. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  22. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  23. The ball is in your ________________.
  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. shower — to wash
  2. bat — the animal
  3. pop — to visit
  4. bat — in an idiom
  5. prune — to trim
  6. nail — on a finger
  7. pop — soda
  8. bear — the animal
  9. prune — to trim
  10. bear — to put up with
  11. prune — the fruit
  12. swing — in golf
  13. nail — for a hammer
  14. bear — the animal
  15. pop — music
  16. court — of a king
  17. shower — a meteor shower
  18. shower — rain
  19. swing — to play on
  20. nail — for a hammer
  21. court — of law
  22. swing — music
  23. court — for sport
  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