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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. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  4. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  5. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  6. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  7. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  8. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  11. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  12. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  13. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  14. What do you think of the new ________________?
  15. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  16. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  17. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  18. There's no middle ________________.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  21. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  22. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  23. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  24. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.

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

Answer key

  1. hide — animal skin
  2. clip — for paper
  3. spring — of water
  4. ground — crushed
  5. shower — a meteor shower
  6. row — a line
  7. row — to paddle
  8. row — a quarrel
  9. clip — to cut
  10. lash — to lash out
  11. hide — to keep secret
  12. spring — a coil
  13. lash — an eyelash
  14. cabinet — ministers
  15. cabinet — ministers
  16. hide — to keep secret
  17. spring — the season
  18. ground — a position
  19. clip — a video
  20. shower — rain
  21. lash — a whip stroke
  22. shower — to wash
  23. cabinet — a cupboard
  24. ground — the earth

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