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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. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  2. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  3. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  4. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  5. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. We're on a ________________ here.
  9. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  10. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  11. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  14. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  15. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  16. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  17. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  20. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  21. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  22. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  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. roll — a list
  2. lash — a whip stroke
  3. tear — from crying
  4. hide — animal skin
  5. lash — an eyelash
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. roll — on a roll
  9. chest — of your body
  10. jam — a tight spot
  11. hide — to keep secret
  12. cold — not warm
  13. jam — to spread on bread
  14. lash — to lash out
  15. hide — to keep secret
  16. roll — a cake
  17. bat — for baseball
  18. bat — the animal
  19. chest — a box
  20. chest — of your body
  21. tear — to rip
  22. jam — in traffic
  23. cold — an illness
  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