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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: chest · shower · lie · hand · wound · ball · ground · fan

  1. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  4. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  5. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  6. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  7. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  8. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  9. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  10. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  11. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  12. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  13. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  14. The King held a masked ________________.
  15. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  16. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  17. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  18. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  19. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  20. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  21. There's no middle ________________.
  22. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  23. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  24. We took cover from the thunder ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. hand — help
  3. ground — the earth
  4. ground — crushed
  5. fan — to cool the air
  6. hand — part of the body
  7. lie — an untruth
  8. lie — an untruth
  9. chest — a box
  10. chest — of your body
  11. ball — a great time
  12. shower — to wash
  13. ball — a round shape
  14. ball — a dance
  15. fan — a supporter
  16. shower — a meteor shower
  17. hand — in cards
  18. lie — to recline
  19. fan — a supporter
  20. wound — an injury
  21. ground — a position
  22. wound — an injury
  23. wound — past of 'wind'
  24. shower — rain

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