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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: pitcher · race · chest · perch · bat · cell · nail · hand

  1. The ________________ went through the wall.
  2. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  3. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  4. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  5. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  6. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  7. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  8. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  9. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  10. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  11. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  12. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  13. He is an ace ________________.
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  16. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  17. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  21. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  22. He was locked up in a ________________.
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.

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

Answer key

  1. nail — for a hammer
  2. perch — for a bird
  3. race — a contest
  4. hand — help
  5. pitcher — a jug
  6. perch — for a bird
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. race — the arms race
  9. hand — part of the body
  10. cell — a phone
  11. perch — the fish
  12. nail — on a finger
  13. pitcher — in baseball
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. race — humankind
  16. nail — for a hammer
  17. chest — of your body
  18. hand — in cards
  19. bat — the animal
  20. bat — in an idiom
  21. chest — of your body
  22. cell — in a prison
  23. cell — in biology
  24. chest — a box

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