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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. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  2. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. My father caught me by the ________________.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  10. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  11. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  12. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  13. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  14. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  15. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  16. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  17. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  20. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  21. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  22. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  23. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. lash — to lash out
  2. fall — to drop
  3. content — happy
  4. cold — an illness
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. arm — part of the body
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. cold — not warm
  9. club — for golf
  10. fall — the season
  11. club — a group
  12. arm — a part of something
  13. stem — of a plant
  14. lash — a whip stroke
  15. arm — part of the body
  16. fall — to drop
  17. content — videos and posts
  18. bat — the animal
  19. stem — to come from
  20. content — the amount
  21. club — for dancing
  22. lash — an eyelash
  23. stem — a stem cell
  24. bat — for baseball

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