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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: bat · last · fan · bark · saw · chest · charge · shower

  1. The tickets are free of ________________.
  2. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  3. He works in a ________________ mill.
  4. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  5. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  6. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  9. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  10. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  11. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  12. She's very handy with a ________________.
  13. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  14. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  15. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  16. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  17. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  18. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  19. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  20. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  21. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  22. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  23. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  24. False peace will not ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. charge — a price
  2. bat — in an idiom
  3. saw — the tool
  4. fan — to cool the air
  5. shower — to wash
  6. last — final
  7. bat — the animal
  8. saw — past of 'see'
  9. chest — of your body
  10. fan — a supporter
  11. charge — in control
  12. saw — the tool
  13. bat — for baseball
  14. shower — rain
  15. charge — electricity
  16. chest — of your body
  17. bark — of a tree
  18. fan — a supporter
  19. bark — to shout
  20. chest — a box
  21. shower — a meteor shower
  22. last — finally
  23. bark — a dog's sound
  24. last — to go on

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