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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 who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  3. Don't do anything ________________.
  4. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  5. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  6. David sat on the ________________.
  7. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  8. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  9. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  12. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  13. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  14. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  15. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  16. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  19. That was a fun ________________.
  20. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  21. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  22. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  23. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  24. The spa offers ________________ extensions.

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

Answer key

  1. lash — to lash out
  2. fall — to drop
  3. rash — hasty
  4. fall — the season
  5. perch — the fish
  6. swing — to play on
  7. swing — in golf
  8. capital — money
  9. perch — for a bird
  10. degree — from a university
  11. lash — a whip stroke
  12. game — wild animals
  13. capital — a big letter
  14. swing — music
  15. fall — to drop
  16. rash — a series
  17. degree — temperature
  18. game — a kind of play
  19. game — a match
  20. rash — on the skin
  21. perch — for a bird
  22. degree — an amount
  23. capital — a city
  24. lash — an eyelash

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