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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: shower · fan · degree · chest · bark · wind · lash · squash

  1. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  2. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  3. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  4. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  5. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  6. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  7. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  8. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  9. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  10. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  11. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  12. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  13. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  14. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  19. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  20. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  21. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  22. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  23. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  24. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — the sport
  2. lash — an eyelash
  3. lash — to lash out
  4. bark — a dog's sound
  5. shower — rain
  6. shower — a meteor shower
  7. squash — to crush
  8. fan — a supporter
  9. wind — moving air
  10. bark — of a tree
  11. fan — a supporter
  12. fan — to cool the air
  13. wind — to turn a key
  14. squash — the vegetable
  15. degree — temperature
  16. shower — to wash
  17. degree — from a university
  18. degree — an amount
  19. chest — of your body
  20. chest — of your body
  21. lash — a whip stroke
  22. wind — moving air
  23. chest — a box
  24. bark — to shout

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