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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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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 · chair · lash · bat · bank · clip · arm · tube

  1. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  2. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  3. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  4. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  5. My father caught me by the ________________.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  9. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  10. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  11. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  12. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  13. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  14. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  19. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. I'll be taking the ________________.
  24. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a professorship
  2. bank — for money
  3. chair — to sit on
  4. tube — a container
  5. arm — part of the body
  6. clip — for paper
  7. clip — to cut
  8. lash — a whip stroke
  9. shower — to wash
  10. shower — rain
  11. arm — part of the body
  12. shower — a meteor shower
  13. bank — of a river
  14. lash — an eyelash
  15. clip — a video
  16. chair — a leader
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. lash — to lash out
  19. arm — a part of something
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. bank — for money
  22. bat — the animal
  23. tube — the underground
  24. tube — in a tire

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