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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. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  2. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  3. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  4. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  5. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  6. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  7. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  8. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  11. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  12. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  13. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  14. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  15. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  16. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. He was locked up in a ________________.
  19. My father caught me by the ________________.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  22. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  23. This piece is in a major ________________.
  24. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.

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

Answer key

  1. lash — a whip stroke
  2. stem — to come from
  3. cell — a phone
  4. cell — in biology
  5. arm — part of the body
  6. straw — to clutch at straws
  7. key — for a lock
  8. key — the most important part
  9. cold — an illness
  10. file — a document
  11. lash — an eyelash
  12. file — a line of people
  13. straw — dry grass
  14. arm — a part of something
  15. file — a tool
  16. lash — to lash out
  17. cold — not warm
  18. cell — in a prison
  19. arm — part of the body
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. straw — a straw man
  22. stem — of a plant
  23. key — in music
  24. stem — a stem cell

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