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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. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  3. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  4. The ball is in your ________________.
  5. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  6. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  7. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  8. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  9. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  10. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  11. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  12. Don't do anything ________________.
  13. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  14. That was ________________ to happen.
  15. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  16. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  17. Did you ________________ the meat?
  18. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  19. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  20. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  21. He was locked up in a ________________.
  22. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  23. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  24. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.

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

Answer key

  1. lash — to lash out
  2. season — in sport
  3. cell — in biology
  4. court — for sport
  5. bound — obliged
  6. tear — to rip
  7. rash — a series
  8. bound — tied together
  9. rash — on the skin
  10. court — of law
  11. trunk — of a car
  12. rash — hasty
  13. cell — a phone
  14. bound — certain
  15. lash — a whip stroke
  16. tear — from crying
  17. season — to add flavour
  18. lash — an eyelash
  19. season — of the year
  20. court — of a king
  21. cell — in a prison
  22. trunk — of an elephant
  23. tear — from crying
  24. trunk — of a tree

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