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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 120 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. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  2. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  5. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  9. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  10. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  11. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  12. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  13. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  16. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  17. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  18. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  19. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  20. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. The ________________ took off on time.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — to cool the air
  2. fan — a supporter
  3. cold — not warm
  4. lash — an eyelash
  5. lash — to lash out
  6. cold — an illness
  7. clip — to cut
  8. plane — in geometry
  9. plane — a tool
  10. tear — from crying
  11. band — a music group
  12. prune — to trim
  13. band — a ring
  14. clip — for paper
  15. prune — the fruit
  16. fan — a supporter
  17. prune — to trim
  18. lash — a whip stroke
  19. band — a rubber band
  20. tear — to rip
  21. clip — a video
  22. tear — from crying
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. plane — an aircraft

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