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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. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  3. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  4. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  5. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  6. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  7. That must've been a ________________.
  8. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  9. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  10. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  11. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  12. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  13. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  14. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  15. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  16. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  17. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  18. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  19. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  20. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  21. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  22. We're on a ________________ here.
  23. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  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. lash — to lash out
  2. fine — all right
  3. cell — a phone
  4. prune — the fruit
  5. roll — a cake
  6. hand — part of the body
  7. rush — a thrill
  8. rush — to hurry
  9. prune — to trim
  10. hand — in cards
  11. lash — a whip stroke
  12. lash — an eyelash
  13. shower — rain
  14. shower — to wash
  15. hand — help
  16. fine — high quality
  17. cell — in biology
  18. shower — a meteor shower
  19. rush — hurry
  20. prune — to trim
  21. fine — a penalty
  22. roll — on a roll
  23. roll — a list
  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