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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.

Words on the sheet
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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: dip · mine · cap · lash · row · cold · spring · bat

  1. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  2. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  5. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  6. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  11. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  12. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  13. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  14. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  15. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  16. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  17. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  18. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  19. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  22. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  23. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a quarrel
  2. cap — a hat
  3. cold — an illness
  4. lash — a whip stroke
  5. bat — for baseball
  6. cap — a lid
  7. cold — not warm
  8. spring — the season
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. spring — of water
  11. dip — to dunk
  12. lash — an eyelash
  13. mine — belonging to me
  14. row — to paddle
  15. row — a line
  16. dip — to sink
  17. lash — to lash out
  18. mine — for digging
  19. mine — an explosive
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. spring — a coil
  22. dip — a sauce
  23. cap — of ice
  24. bat — the animal

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