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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: shower · wake · bat · lash · race · calf · pound · net

  1. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  2. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  3. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  4. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  5. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  6. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  7. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  8. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  9. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  10. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  11. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  12. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  13. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  14. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  15. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  16. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  17. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  18. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  19. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  20. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  21. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  22. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  23. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  24. He took the fish out of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. calf — of the leg
  2. lash — a whip stroke
  3. calf — a young animal
  4. wake — to stop sleeping
  5. calf — a young animal
  6. bat — for baseball
  7. shower — rain
  8. wake — a trail
  9. race — humankind
  10. pound — a weight
  11. net — in sport
  12. pound — for dogs
  13. wake — before a funeral
  14. race — a contest
  15. bat — the animal
  16. pound — to hit hard
  17. lash — to lash out
  18. shower — to wash
  19. shower — a meteor shower
  20. bat — in an idiom
  21. lash — an eyelash
  22. net — after costs
  23. race — the arms race
  24. net — for catching

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