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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 116 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. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  6. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  7. I'll be taking the ________________.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  10. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  11. That must've been a ________________.
  12. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  13. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  14. Have you met the new head ________________?
  15. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  21. The ________________ market has crashed.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. lash — to lash out
  2. rush — to hurry
  3. bat — for baseball
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. stock — a soup base
  6. coach — a trainer
  7. tube — the underground
  8. spring — the season
  9. lash — a whip stroke
  10. coach — pulled by horses
  11. rush — a thrill
  12. tube — a container
  13. lash — an eyelash
  14. coach — a trainer
  15. stock — goods
  16. spring — a coil
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. rush — hurry
  19. spring — of water
  20. tube — in a tire
  21. stock — shares
  22. cold — an illness
  23. cold — not warm
  24. bat — the animal

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