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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 am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  2. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  3. Have you settled on a ________________?
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  6. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  7. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  8. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  9. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  10. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  11. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  14. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  19. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  20. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  21. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  22. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  23. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — a supporter
  2. chest — a box
  3. date — on the calendar
  4. cold — not warm
  5. spring — the season
  6. deal — an agreement
  7. chest — of your body
  8. lash — to lash out
  9. date — the fruit
  10. date — on the calendar
  11. chest — of your body
  12. clip — for paper
  13. fan — to cool the air
  14. spring — of water
  15. clip — a video
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. clip — to cut
  18. deal — to handle
  19. lash — a whip stroke
  20. lash — an eyelash
  21. fan — a supporter
  22. spring — a coil
  23. deal — a big deal
  24. cold — an illness

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