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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. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  2. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  3. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  4. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  5. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  6. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  7. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  8. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  9. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  10. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  11. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  12. This piece is in a major ________________.
  13. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  16. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  17. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  18. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. There's no middle ________________.
  21. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  22. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  23. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  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. lash — an eyelash
  2. wind — moving air
  3. bark — a dog's sound
  4. wind — to turn a key
  5. lash — a whip stroke
  6. bark — to shout
  7. key — for a lock
  8. ground — crushed
  9. patient — calm and waiting
  10. shower — to wash
  11. bark — of a tree
  12. key — in music
  13. shower — rain
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. key — the most important part
  16. lash — to lash out
  17. patient — a sick person
  18. wind — moving air
  19. cold — not warm
  20. ground — a position
  21. shower — a meteor shower
  22. patient — a sick person
  23. ground — the earth
  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