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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 · chest · foot · wind · court · cue · row · date

  1. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  2. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  3. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  4. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  5. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  6. Have you settled on a ________________?
  7. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  8. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  9. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  10. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  11. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  12. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  13. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  14. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  15. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  16. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  17. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  18. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  19. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  20. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  21. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  22. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  24. The ball is in your ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. foot — a measure
  2. wind — to turn a key
  3. cue — a signal
  4. chest — a box
  5. foot — the bottom
  6. date — on the calendar
  7. wind — moving air
  8. chest — of your body
  9. row — a quarrel
  10. cue — a hint
  11. date — on the calendar
  12. court — of law
  13. cue — for pool
  14. row — a line
  15. court — of a king
  16. wind — moving air
  17. shower — to wash
  18. shower — rain
  19. foot — part of the body
  20. row — to paddle
  21. chest — of your body
  22. date — the fruit
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  24. court — for sport

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