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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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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. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  2. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  3. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  4. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  5. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  6. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  9. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  10. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  13. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  14. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  19. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  22. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  23. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  24. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.

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

Answer key

  1. fall — the season
  2. bass — the fish
  3. lash — to lash out
  4. squash — to crush
  5. lash — an eyelash
  6. fall — to drop
  7. cold — not warm
  8. squash — the vegetable
  9. wax — for sculpting
  10. wind — moving air
  11. field — a subject
  12. squash — the sport
  13. wax — in the ear
  14. wind — moving air
  15. field — for sport
  16. bass — the instrument
  17. cold — an illness
  18. wind — to turn a key
  19. wax — to grow
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. lash — a whip stroke
  22. bass — low music
  23. field — farmland
  24. fall — to drop

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