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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 120 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: lash · cold · mine · capital · snap · perch · game · craft

  1. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  3. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  4. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  7. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  8. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  9. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  10. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  11. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  12. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  13. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  14. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  15. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  16. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  17. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  18. That was a fun ________________.
  19. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  20. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  21. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  24. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. perch — for a bird
  3. lash — a whip stroke
  4. game — a kind of play
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. capital — a city
  7. lash — an eyelash
  8. mine — for digging
  9. perch — the fish
  10. snap — to click
  11. capital — money
  12. mine — an explosive
  13. snap — to speak sharply
  14. game — wild animals
  15. craft — a skill
  16. mine — belonging to me
  17. lash — to lash out
  18. game — a match
  19. craft — boats
  20. capital — a big letter
  21. perch — for a bird
  22. cold — not warm
  23. snap — to snap out of it
  24. craft — a handicraft

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