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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. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  4. He was locked up in a ________________.
  5. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  6. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  7. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  8. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  9. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  10. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  11. We're on a ________________ here.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  15. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  16. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  17. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  18. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  19. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  20. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  21. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  22. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  23. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  24. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — in biology
  2. cold — not warm
  3. roll — a cake
  4. cell — in a prison
  5. fan — to cool the air
  6. fan — a supporter
  7. roll — a list
  8. chest — of your body
  9. fan — a supporter
  10. lash — an eyelash
  11. roll — on a roll
  12. cold — an illness
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. chest — of your body
  15. lash — a whip stroke
  16. patient — calm and waiting
  17. patient — a sick person
  18. patient — a sick person
  19. chest — a box
  20. lash — to lash out
  21. cell — a phone
  22. tear — from crying
  23. tear — to rip
  24. tear — from crying

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