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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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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. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  5. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  8. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  9. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  12. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  13. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  14. That was a fun ________________.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  17. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  18. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  19. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  20. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  21. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  22. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. lash — an eyelash
  2. hand — help
  3. degree — from a university
  4. rule — government
  5. game — wild animals
  6. degree — an amount
  7. hand — part of the body
  8. game — a kind of play
  9. perch — for a bird
  10. degree — temperature
  11. rule — a law
  12. perch — the fish
  13. perch — for a bird
  14. game — a match
  15. cold — not warm
  16. craft — a skill
  17. hand — in cards
  18. lash — a whip stroke
  19. rule — to rule out
  20. craft — boats
  21. lash — to lash out
  22. craft — a handicraft
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. cold — an illness

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