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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 · shower · pitch · sharp · last · cap · hand · hide

  1. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  2. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  4. False peace will not ________________.
  5. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  6. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  7. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  10. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  11. It's one o'clock ________________.
  12. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  13. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  14. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  15. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  16. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  17. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  18. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  19. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  20. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  21. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  22. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  23. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  24. I got dealt a bad ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cap — a lid
  2. last — final
  3. hide — to keep secret
  4. last — to go on
  5. hide — animal skin
  6. cap — a hat
  7. hide — to keep secret
  8. bat — the animal
  9. hand — part of the body
  10. sharp — clever
  11. sharp — exactly
  12. cap — of ice
  13. bat — for baseball
  14. pitch — a sales talk
  15. shower — a meteor shower
  16. pitch — a sports field
  17. shower — rain
  18. sharp — with an edge
  19. last — finally
  20. pitch — completely
  21. shower — to wash
  22. hand — help
  23. bat — in an idiom
  24. hand — in cards

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