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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. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  2. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  3. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  4. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  5. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  6. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  7. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  8. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  9. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  10. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  11. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  12. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  13. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  14. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  15. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  16. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  17. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  18. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  19. The ball is in your ________________.
  20. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  21. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  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. scale — size or range
  3. drill — a practice
  4. lash — an eyelash
  5. drill — the tool
  6. lash — a whip stroke
  7. hand — help
  8. court — of law
  9. scale — in music
  10. patient — a sick person
  11. scale — for weighing
  12. chip — to eat
  13. chip — for betting
  14. hand — in cards
  15. drill — army training
  16. patient — calm and waiting
  17. chip — in a computer
  18. patient — a sick person
  19. court — for sport
  20. bat — in an idiom
  21. hand — part of the body
  22. bat — the animal
  23. court — of a king
  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