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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 116 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. What do you think of the new ________________?
  2. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  6. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  9. Don't do anything ________________.
  10. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  11. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  12. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. That must've been a ________________.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  17. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  18. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  19. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  20. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  21. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  22. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  23. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. cabinet — ministers
  2. branch — of a bank
  3. bat — the animal
  4. cold — not warm
  5. lash — to lash out
  6. cabinet — ministers
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. rush — hurry
  9. rash — hasty
  10. lash — an eyelash
  11. branch — of a tree
  12. rash — on the skin
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. rush — a thrill
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. cabinet — a cupboard
  17. rush — to hurry
  18. rash — a series
  19. drill — a practice
  20. branch — a division
  21. lash — a whip stroke
  22. drill — army training
  23. drill — the tool
  24. cold — an illness

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