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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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Word bank
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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. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  2. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  3. That must've been a ________________.
  4. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  5. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  6. He was locked up in a ________________.
  7. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  8. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  9. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  10. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  11. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  12. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  13. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  14. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  15. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  20. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  21. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  22. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  23. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — to hurry
  2. present — the time now
  3. rush — a thrill
  4. rock — a stone
  5. cell — a phone
  6. cell — in a prison
  7. rock — music
  8. lash — to lash out
  9. tear — from crying
  10. cell — in biology
  11. rush — hurry
  12. lash — an eyelash
  13. lash — a whip stroke
  14. present — a gift
  15. rock — to move gently
  16. cold — an illness
  17. tear — from crying
  18. cold — not warm
  19. patient — a sick person
  20. tear — to rip
  21. present — there
  22. patient — calm and waiting
  23. patient — a sick person
  24. cold — the Cold War

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