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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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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: dip · rash · lean · cold · fan · arm · pitcher · plane

  1. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  2. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  3. Don't do anything ________________.
  4. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  5. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  6. My father caught me by the ________________.
  7. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  8. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  9. He is an ace ________________.
  10. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  11. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  12. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  15. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  16. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  19. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  20. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  21. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  22. The ________________ took off on time.
  23. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — a supporter
  2. arm — part of the body
  3. rash — hasty
  4. rash — on the skin
  5. rash — a series
  6. arm — part of the body
  7. fan — a supporter
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. pitcher — in baseball
  10. plane — a tool
  11. lean — thin
  12. plane — in geometry
  13. cold — not warm
  14. fan — to cool the air
  15. arm — a part of something
  16. dip — a sauce
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. lean — to bend
  19. lean — to rest against
  20. dip — to sink
  21. dip — to dunk
  22. plane — an aircraft
  23. pitcher — a jug
  24. cold — an illness

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