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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: spring · lash · rash · hand · fall · ground · field · last

  1. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  2. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  3. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  4. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  5. There's no middle ________________.
  6. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  7. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  11. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  12. Don't do anything ________________.
  13. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  14. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  15. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  16. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  17. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  18. False peace will not ________________.
  19. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  20. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  21. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  22. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  23. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  24. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.

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

Answer key

  1. rash — a series
  2. spring — the season
  3. fall — to drop
  4. lash — to lash out
  5. ground — a position
  6. hand — part of the body
  7. hand — in cards
  8. field — for sport
  9. spring — of water
  10. ground — crushed
  11. last — final
  12. rash — hasty
  13. fall — the season
  14. hand — help
  15. last — finally
  16. rash — on the skin
  17. spring — a coil
  18. last — to go on
  19. field — a subject
  20. field — farmland
  21. lash — an eyelash
  22. fall — to drop
  23. lash — a whip stroke
  24. ground — the earth

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