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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. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  2. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  6. Don't do anything ________________.
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  9. Where did you ________________ them?
  10. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  11. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  14. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  15. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  16. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  17. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  18. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  19. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  20. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  21. That was a fun ________________.
  22. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  23. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  24. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. lash — a whip stroke
  2. mug — a face
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. cold — an illness
  5. game — a kind of play
  6. rash — hasty
  7. degree — temperature
  8. kick — with a leg
  9. mug — to rob
  10. cue — for pool
  11. mug — a cup
  12. cold — not warm
  13. cue — a hint
  14. kick — in football
  15. degree — an amount
  16. cue — a signal
  17. kick — a thrill
  18. rash — on the skin
  19. lash — an eyelash
  20. lash — to lash out
  21. game — a match
  22. degree — from a university
  23. rash — a series
  24. game — wild animals

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