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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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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: clip · coach · lash · cell · wind · cold

  1. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  4. Have you met the new head ________________?
  5. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  6. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  7. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  12. He was locked up in a ________________.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  15. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  16. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  17. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. clip — a video
  3. lash — an eyelash
  4. coach — a trainer
  5. cell — a phone
  6. coach — a trainer
  7. wind — moving air
  8. cold — not warm
  9. lash — a whip stroke
  10. cold — an illness
  11. coach — pulled by horses
  12. cell — in a prison
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. wind — moving air
  15. wind — to turn a key
  16. cell — in biology
  17. lash — to lash out
  18. clip — to cut

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