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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: club · saw · lash · press · row · content · cold · lie

  1. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  5. She's very handy with a ________________.
  6. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  7. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  10. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  11. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  12. Did you ________________ the button?
  13. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  14. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  15. He works in a ________________ mill.
  16. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  17. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  18. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  21. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  22. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  23. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  24. I had a ________________ with my boss today.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. club — for dancing
  3. content — happy
  4. row — to paddle
  5. saw — the tool
  6. row — a line
  7. lash — to lash out
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. content — the amount
  10. lash — a whip stroke
  11. lash — an eyelash
  12. press — to push
  13. saw — past of 'see'
  14. press — a publisher
  15. saw — the tool
  16. lie — an untruth
  17. club — a group
  18. press — newspapers
  19. cold — not warm
  20. lie — to recline
  21. club — for golf
  22. content — videos and posts
  23. lie — an untruth
  24. row — a quarrel

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