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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: chest · squash · straw · snap · pit · clip · lash · fall

  1. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  2. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  3. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  4. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  5. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  10. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  11. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  12. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  15. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  16. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  17. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  18. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  19. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  20. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  21. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  22. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  23. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  24. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.

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

Answer key

  1. lash — to lash out
  2. squash — to crush
  3. lash — a whip stroke
  4. chest — of your body
  5. pit — in a race
  6. clip — a video
  7. fall — the season
  8. clip — for paper
  9. pit — a fruit stone
  10. snap — to click
  11. chest — of your body
  12. straw — dry grass
  13. clip — to cut
  14. snap — to speak sharply
  15. chest — a box
  16. straw — to clutch at straws
  17. squash — the sport
  18. lash — an eyelash
  19. pit — a hole
  20. straw — a straw man
  21. fall — to drop
  22. snap — to snap out of it
  23. squash — the vegetable
  24. fall — to drop

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