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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 120 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: chest · season · pitch · bat · file · rest · shower · bay

  1. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  3. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  4. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  5. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  6. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  7. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  8. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  9. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  10. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  13. Did you ________________ the meat?
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. My mare is ________________ in color.
  16. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  17. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  18. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  19. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  20. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  21. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  22. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  23. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  24. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. chest — of your body
  3. pitch — a sports field
  4. pitch — completely
  5. chest — of your body
  6. rest — what's left
  7. shower — a meteor shower
  8. rest — a break
  9. bay — to keep at bay
  10. file — a tool
  11. bat — the animal
  12. season — of the year
  13. season — to add flavour
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. bay — a horse colour
  16. file — a line of people
  17. bay — a part of the sea
  18. rest — what's left
  19. bat — in an idiom
  20. file — a document
  21. chest — a box
  22. pitch — a sales talk
  23. shower — rain
  24. season — in 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