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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 120 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 asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  2. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  3. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  4. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  5. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  6. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  7. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  8. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  9. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  10. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  11. He is an ace ________________.
  12. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  13. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  19. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  20. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  21. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  22. How do you ________________ your surname?
  23. When are we going to ________________?
  24. He was locked up in a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — magic
  2. spell — a short time
  3. lash — to lash out
  4. pitcher — a jug
  5. land — ground
  6. lash — an eyelash
  7. hand — help
  8. hand — in cards
  9. pitcher — a jug
  10. lash — a whip stroke
  11. pitcher — in baseball
  12. cell — a phone
  13. fan — to cool the air
  14. clip — a video
  15. clip — to cut
  16. cell — in biology
  17. clip — for paper
  18. land — a country
  19. hand — part of the body
  20. fan — a supporter
  21. fan — a supporter
  22. spell — letters
  23. land — to come down
  24. cell — in a prison

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