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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 · land · pit · cold · snap · hide · saw · patient

  1. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  5. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  6. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  7. When are we going to ________________?
  8. She's very handy with a ________________.
  9. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  10. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  11. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  15. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  16. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  17. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  18. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  19. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  20. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  21. He works in a ________________ mill.
  22. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  23. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  24. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. lash — a whip stroke
  3. cold — an illness
  4. hide — animal skin
  5. pit — a hole
  6. snap — to click
  7. land — to come down
  8. saw — the tool
  9. patient — a sick person
  10. pit — a fruit stone
  11. lash — an eyelash
  12. cold — not warm
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. snap — to speak sharply
  15. hide — to keep secret
  16. snap — to snap out of it
  17. land — a country
  18. lash — to lash out
  19. patient — a sick person
  20. hide — to keep secret
  21. saw — the tool
  22. patient — calm and waiting
  23. saw — past of 'see'
  24. pit — in a race

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