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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: last · cold · fan · lash · sharp · tear · file · patient

  1. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  4. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  5. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  6. False peace will not ________________.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  9. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  10. It's one o'clock ________________.
  11. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  12. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  13. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  14. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  15. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  16. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  17. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  20. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  21. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  22. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  23. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  24. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. last — final
  2. cold — an illness
  3. fan — a supporter
  4. lash — to lash out
  5. sharp — clever
  6. last — to go on
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. file — a tool
  9. patient — a sick person
  10. sharp — exactly
  11. lash — an eyelash
  12. last — finally
  13. patient — a sick person
  14. file — a line of people
  15. fan — a supporter
  16. file — a document
  17. sharp — with an edge
  18. cold — not warm
  19. tear — from crying
  20. tear — from crying
  21. fan — to cool the air
  22. patient — calm and waiting
  23. tear — to rip
  24. lash — a whip stroke

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