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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. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  3. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  4. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  7. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  8. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  12. The ball is in your ________________.
  13. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  14. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  15. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  16. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  17. Where did you ________________ them?
  18. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  19. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  20. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  21. False peace will not ________________.
  22. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  23. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  24. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. last — final
  2. lash — a whip stroke
  3. court — of a king
  4. spring — the season
  5. cold — not warm
  6. lash — an eyelash
  7. mug — a face
  8. fall — to drop
  9. cold — an illness
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. court — of law
  12. court — for sport
  13. mug — a cup
  14. bass — the instrument
  15. last — finally
  16. lash — to lash out
  17. mug — to rob
  18. spring — of water
  19. fall — to drop
  20. bass — low music
  21. last — to go on
  22. spring — a coil
  23. fall — the season
  24. bass — the fish

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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