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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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  3. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  6. The ball is in your ________________.
  7. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  8. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  11. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  14. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  15. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  16. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  17. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  18. The spa offers ________________ extensions.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. hide — animal skin
  3. lash — to lash out
  4. cold — not warm
  5. shower — rain
  6. court — for sport
  7. fan — a supporter
  8. hide — to keep secret
  9. cold — an illness
  10. shower — a meteor shower
  11. fan — a supporter
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. hide — to keep secret
  14. lash — a whip stroke
  15. court — of law
  16. court — of a king
  17. fan — to cool the air
  18. lash — an eyelash

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