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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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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: wound · bat · fine · lash · cap · cold · dip · club

  1. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  2. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  3. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  4. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  5. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  6. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  7. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  8. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  9. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  10. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  11. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  14. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  15. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  22. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  23. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  24. 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. bat — for baseball
  2. lash — an eyelash
  3. club — for golf
  4. cap — a hat
  5. dip — a sauce
  6. club — for dancing
  7. dip — to sink
  8. wound — an injury
  9. wound — an injury
  10. fine — all right
  11. lash — to lash out
  12. cold — not warm
  13. cap — of ice
  14. fine — a penalty
  15. wound — past of 'wind'
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. dip — to dunk
  18. bat — the animal
  19. club — a group
  20. cold — an illness
  21. fine — high quality
  22. cap — a lid
  23. lash — a whip stroke
  24. 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