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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. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  3. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  4. Don't do anything ________________.
  5. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  6. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  9. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  10. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  11. The ________________ took off on time.
  12. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  17. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  18. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  19. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  20. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  21. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  22. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  23. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  24. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. lash — an eyelash
  3. lash — to lash out
  4. rash — hasty
  5. cue — a signal
  6. cue — a hint
  7. degree — an amount
  8. rash — a series
  9. cue — for pool
  10. rash — on the skin
  11. plane — an aircraft
  12. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  13. kid — child
  14. lash — a whip stroke
  15. degree — temperature
  16. fall — to drop
  17. straw — a straw man
  18. plane — in geometry
  19. kid — to tease
  20. straw — dry grass
  21. plane — a tool
  22. straw — to clutch at straws
  23. fall — to drop
  24. fall — the season

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