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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: fan · tear · cold · chip · net · date · clip · lash

  1. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  2. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  3. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  4. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  10. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  11. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  12. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  13. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  19. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  20. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  21. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  22. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  23. Have you settled on a ________________?
  24. There's a computer ________________ on the table.

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

Answer key

  1. chip — to eat
  2. tear — to rip
  3. fan — a supporter
  4. lash — to lash out
  5. clip — to cut
  6. lash — a whip stroke
  7. clip — a video
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. lash — an eyelash
  10. net — after costs
  11. date — on the calendar
  12. chip — for betting
  13. fan — to cool the air
  14. clip — for paper
  15. cold — not warm
  16. net — in sport
  17. cold — an illness
  18. date — the fruit
  19. tear — from crying
  20. net — for catching
  21. tear — from crying
  22. fan — a supporter
  23. date — on the calendar
  24. chip — in a computer

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