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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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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: hand · pop · row · root · lash · cold · chest · sharp

  1. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  2. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  5. You don't need to ________________ round.
  6. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. It's one o'clock ________________.
  9. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  10. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  11. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  12. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  13. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  14. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  17. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  18. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  19. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  20. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  21. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  22. We're almost out of ________________.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — music
  2. chest — a box
  3. chest — of your body
  4. lash — a whip stroke
  5. pop — to visit
  6. lash — an eyelash
  7. cold — an illness
  8. sharp — exactly
  9. row — a line
  10. row — to paddle
  11. chest — of your body
  12. hand — in cards
  13. hand — part of the body
  14. lash — to lash out
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. sharp — with an edge
  17. hand — help
  18. root — of a word
  19. row — a quarrel
  20. sharp — clever
  21. root — of a plant
  22. pop — soda
  23. cold — not warm
  24. root — the cause

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