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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 · chest · cell · court · cold · perch · kick · spell

  1. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  6. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  7. He was locked up in a ________________.
  8. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  9. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  10. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  11. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  12. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  13. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  14. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  15. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  16. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  17. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  18. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  19. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  20. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  21. The ball is in your ________________.
  22. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  23. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  24. How do you ________________ your surname?

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. perch — the fish
  3. cold — not warm
  4. cold — an illness
  5. spell — magic
  6. chest — a box
  7. cell — in a prison
  8. cell — a phone
  9. court — of a king
  10. lash — a whip stroke
  11. perch — for a bird
  12. perch — for a bird
  13. lash — to lash out
  14. kick — with a leg
  15. cell — in biology
  16. kick — in football
  17. lash — an eyelash
  18. chest — of your body
  19. chest — of your body
  20. kick — a thrill
  21. court — for sport
  22. court — of law
  23. spell — a short time
  24. spell — letters

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