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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. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  2. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  3. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  10. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  11. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  12. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  13. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  14. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  15. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  16. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  17. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  18. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  19. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  20. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  21. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  22. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  23. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  24. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.

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

Answer key

  1. dip — to dunk
  2. fine — all right
  3. lash — to lash out
  4. cold — not warm
  5. bore — to drill
  6. cold — an illness
  7. lash — a whip stroke
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. stem — of a plant
  10. bore — gave birth
  11. dip — to sink
  12. fine — a penalty
  13. fine — high quality
  14. dip — a sauce
  15. shower — rain
  16. shower — a meteor shower
  17. lash — an eyelash
  18. march — the month
  19. stem — a stem cell
  20. stem — to come from
  21. bore — to tire
  22. march — the month
  23. shower — to wash
  24. march — music

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