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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. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  5. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  6. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  7. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  8. The tickets are free of ________________.
  9. He was locked up in a ________________.
  10. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  11. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  12. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  16. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  17. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  18. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  21. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  22. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  23. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  24. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a ring
  2. cold — not warm
  3. spring — a coil
  4. net — after costs
  5. fall — the season
  6. charge — in control
  7. spring — the season
  8. charge — a price
  9. cell — in a prison
  10. band — a rubber band
  11. net — in sport
  12. lash — a whip stroke
  13. cold — an illness
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. lash — an eyelash
  16. charge — electricity
  17. cell — in biology
  18. cell — a phone
  19. spring — of water
  20. net — for catching
  21. band — a music group
  22. fall — to drop
  23. fall — to drop
  24. lash — to lash out

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