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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. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  4. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  5. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  6. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. My father caught me by the ________________.
  9. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  10. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  11. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  14. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  15. I'll be taking the ________________.
  16. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  17. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  20. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  24. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.

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

Answer key

  1. lash — to lash out
  2. bat — the animal
  3. prune — the fruit
  4. lash — an eyelash
  5. arm — part of the body
  6. arm — a part of something
  7. cold — an illness
  8. arm — part of the body
  9. branch — a division
  10. branch — of a tree
  11. tube — in a tire
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. pitch — a sports field
  14. lash — a whip stroke
  15. tube — the underground
  16. tube — a container
  17. branch — of a bank
  18. cold — not warm
  19. prune — to trim
  20. pitch — completely
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. pitch — a sales talk
  24. prune — to trim

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