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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. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  4. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  5. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  6. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  7. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  8. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  9. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  10. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  11. Have you met the new head ________________?
  12. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  13. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  14. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  15. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  16. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  17. Did you ________________ the meat?
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  20. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  23. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  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. lash — a whip stroke
  2. clip — a video
  3. hand — help
  4. mine — an explosive
  5. tear — from crying
  6. hand — part of the body
  7. lash — an eyelash
  8. lash — to lash out
  9. season — in sport
  10. coach — a trainer
  11. coach — a trainer
  12. hand — in cards
  13. coach — pulled by horses
  14. patient — a sick person
  15. patient — calm and waiting
  16. mine — for digging
  17. season — to add flavour
  18. clip — for paper
  19. tear — to rip
  20. season — of the year
  21. clip — to cut
  22. patient — a sick person
  23. mine — belonging to me
  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