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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: cold · row · wind · staff · lash · cell

  1. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  2. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  3. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  4. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  5. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  6. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  7. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  8. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  11. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  12. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  13. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  14. He was locked up in a ________________.
  15. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. staff — employees
  2. row — a quarrel
  3. wind — moving air
  4. row — to paddle
  5. staff — a stick
  6. wind — to turn a key
  7. lash — a whip stroke
  8. staff — employees
  9. cold — an illness
  10. cell — a phone
  11. row — a line
  12. lash — to lash out
  13. wind — moving air
  14. cell — in a prison
  15. cell — in biology
  16. cold — not warm
  17. lash — an eyelash
  18. cold — the Cold War

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