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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 116 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 felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  2. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  3. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  6. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  7. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  8. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  9. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  10. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  11. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  14. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  15. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  18. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  19. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  20. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  21. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  22. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  23. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  24. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. lash — a whip stroke
  2. perch — for a bird
  3. squash — to crush
  4. bat — the animal
  5. bat — for baseball
  6. lash — to lash out
  7. perch — the fish
  8. lash — an eyelash
  9. spring — a coil
  10. straw — to clutch at straws
  11. straw — a straw man
  12. degree — from a university
  13. degree — an amount
  14. squash — the sport
  15. spring — of water
  16. degree — temperature
  17. bark — a dog's sound
  18. spring — the season
  19. bark — to shout
  20. bat — in an idiom
  21. straw — dry grass
  22. perch — for a bird
  23. squash — the vegetable
  24. bark — of a tree

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