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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. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  2. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  3. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  4. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  5. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  6. The ball is in your ________________.
  7. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  8. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  9. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  12. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  13. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  14. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  15. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  16. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  17. We're on a ________________ here.
  18. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  19. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  20. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  24. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.

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

Answer key

  1. lash — a whip stroke
  2. object — to protest
  3. court — of law
  4. roll — a list
  5. drill — army training
  6. court — for sport
  7. drill — a practice
  8. lash — to lash out
  9. cap — of ice
  10. cold — an illness
  11. row — to paddle
  12. object — a thing
  13. lash — an eyelash
  14. row — a line
  15. cap — a lid
  16. object — an aim
  17. roll — on a roll
  18. court — of a king
  19. roll — a cake
  20. cap — a hat
  21. cold — not warm
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. row — a quarrel
  24. drill — the tool

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