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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. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  2. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. That was ________________ to happen.
  5. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  10. When are we going to ________________?
  11. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  12. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  13. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  14. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  19. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  20. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  21. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  22. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  23. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  24. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.

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

Answer key

  1. lash — to lash out
  2. bound — tied together
  3. bat — for baseball
  4. bound — certain
  5. hide — animal skin
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. stem — a stem cell
  8. bat — the animal
  9. land — ground
  10. land — to come down
  11. lash — a whip stroke
  12. drill — a practice
  13. hide — to keep secret
  14. bound — obliged
  15. cold — not warm
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. cold — an illness
  18. lash — an eyelash
  19. land — a country
  20. hide — to keep secret
  21. stem — to come from
  22. stem — of a plant
  23. drill — the tool
  24. drill — army training

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