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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 120 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. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  3. The tickets are free of ________________.
  4. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  5. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  16. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  17. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  18. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  19. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  20. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  21. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  22. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  23. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  24. He was blown up by a land ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. lash — to lash out
  2. lash — a whip stroke
  3. charge — a price
  4. lie — an untruth
  5. perch — for a bird
  6. degree — an amount
  7. clip — to cut
  8. perch — the fish
  9. clip — a video
  10. hand — in cards
  11. degree — temperature
  12. lie — to recline
  13. clip — for paper
  14. degree — from a university
  15. charge — electricity
  16. lash — an eyelash
  17. hand — help
  18. hand — part of the body
  19. mine — belonging to me
  20. lie — an untruth
  21. mine — for digging
  22. charge — in control
  23. perch — for a bird
  24. mine — an explosive

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