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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: lash · vault · cold · row · bass · straw · mine · nail

  1. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  2. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  3. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  4. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  5. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  6. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  7. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  8. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  9. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  10. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  11. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  14. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  15. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  16. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  17. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  18. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  19. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  20. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  21. The ________________ went through the wall.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — the instrument
  2. row — a line
  3. nail — on a finger
  4. straw — to clutch at straws
  5. vault — a safe
  6. lash — an eyelash
  7. straw — a straw man
  8. vault — in gymnastics
  9. vault — an arched ceiling
  10. bass — low music
  11. lash — a whip stroke
  12. cold — an illness
  13. nail — for a hammer
  14. row — to paddle
  15. row — a quarrel
  16. mine — an explosive
  17. mine — for digging
  18. mine — belonging to me
  19. straw — dry grass
  20. bass — the fish
  21. nail — for a hammer
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. cold — not warm
  24. lash — to lash out

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