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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. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  7. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  8. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  9. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  10. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  11. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  12. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  13. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  14. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  15. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  16. The King held a masked ________________.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  19. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  20. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  21. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  22. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  23. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  24. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.

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

Answer key

  1. firm — a company
  2. bat — the animal
  3. cold — an illness
  4. chest — a box
  5. cold — not warm
  6. bat — for baseball
  7. lash — a whip stroke
  8. firm — decided
  9. branch — of a tree
  10. chest — of your body
  11. branch — a division
  12. branch — of a bank
  13. firm — steady
  14. snap — to speak sharply
  15. ball — a great time
  16. ball — a dance
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. ball — a round shape
  19. chest — of your body
  20. snap — to click
  21. lash — an eyelash
  22. lash — to lash out
  23. bat — in an idiom
  24. snap — to snap out of it

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