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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: rest · club · cold · clip · lash · pit · rash · file

  1. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  2. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  3. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  6. Don't do anything ________________.
  7. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  8. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  9. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  12. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  13. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  14. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  15. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  18. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  19. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  20. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  21. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. 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. lash — a whip stroke
  2. club — for golf
  3. lash — an eyelash
  4. clip — a video
  5. rest — what's left
  6. rash — hasty
  7. rest — what's left
  8. lash — to lash out
  9. pit — a fruit stone
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. pit — in a race
  12. rash — a series
  13. club — for dancing
  14. club — a group
  15. file — a document
  16. cold — an illness
  17. pit — a hole
  18. rest — a break
  19. rash — on the skin
  20. file — a tool
  21. file — a line of people
  22. clip — for paper
  23. cold — not warm
  24. 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