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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: shower · lean · scale · drill · chest · spell · chip · clip

  1. How do you ________________ your surname?
  2. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  3. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  4. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  5. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  6. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  7. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  8. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  9. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  10. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  11. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  12. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  13. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  16. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  17. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  18. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  19. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  20. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  21. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — letters
  2. lean — thin
  3. drill — a practice
  4. shower — a meteor shower
  5. scale — in music
  6. scale — for weighing
  7. drill — the tool
  8. chest — a box
  9. spell — a short time
  10. shower — to wash
  11. chip — to eat
  12. scale — size or range
  13. chest — of your body
  14. clip — to cut
  15. chip — for betting
  16. lean — to rest against
  17. shower — rain
  18. lean — to bend
  19. chip — in a computer
  20. chest — of your body
  21. spell — magic
  22. clip — a video
  23. drill — army training
  24. clip — for paper

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