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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. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  3. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  4. I can't ________________ this cold.
  5. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  6. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  7. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  8. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  9. Don't do anything ________________.
  10. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  11. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  12. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  13. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  14. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  15. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  16. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  17. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  18. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  19. Have you settled on a ________________?
  20. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  21. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  22. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  23. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  24. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.

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

Answer key

  1. lash — to lash out
  2. wake — before a funeral
  3. date — the fruit
  4. stand — to bear
  5. snap — to speak sharply
  6. drill — army training
  7. wake — to stop sleeping
  8. snap — to snap out of it
  9. rash — hasty
  10. date — on the calendar
  11. rash — a series
  12. lash — a whip stroke
  13. rash — on the skin
  14. lash — an eyelash
  15. drill — a practice
  16. snap — to click
  17. file — a line of people
  18. stand — on your feet
  19. date — on the calendar
  20. file — a document
  21. file — a tool
  22. stand — for spectators
  23. wake — a trail
  24. drill — the tool

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