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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. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  2. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  3. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  4. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  5. What do you think of the new ________________?
  6. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  7. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  15. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  16. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  17. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  18. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  19. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  20. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  21. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  22. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  23. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. lash — a whip stroke
  2. row — a quarrel
  3. rule — government
  4. rest — what's left
  5. cabinet — ministers
  6. drill — the tool
  7. rest — a break
  8. bat — the animal
  9. drill — a practice
  10. cold — an illness
  11. row — to paddle
  12. cold — not warm
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. rest — what's left
  15. row — a line
  16. cabinet — ministers
  17. lash — an eyelash
  18. lash — to lash out
  19. rule — to rule out
  20. cabinet — a cupboard
  21. rule — a law
  22. drill — army training
  23. bat — in an idiom
  24. bat — for baseball

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