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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. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  2. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  3. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  4. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  5. What do you think of the new ________________?
  6. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  9. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  10. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  11. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  12. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  13. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  14. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  15. He was locked up in a ________________.
  16. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  17. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  18. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. How do you ________________ your surname?
  21. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  22. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  23. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. lash — an eyelash
  2. cell — a phone
  3. spell — magic
  4. wind — moving air
  5. cabinet — ministers
  6. file — a document
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. file — a line of people
  9. cabinet — a cupboard
  10. cell — in biology
  11. file — a tool
  12. lash — to lash out
  13. wound — an injury
  14. lash — a whip stroke
  15. cell — in a prison
  16. wound — an injury
  17. cabinet — ministers
  18. wind — moving air
  19. bat — the animal
  20. spell — letters
  21. wound — past of 'wind'
  22. spell — a short time
  23. wind — to turn a key
  24. bat — in an idiom

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