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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: straw · wound · shower · lash · cell · plane · stick · last

  1. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  2. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  3. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  4. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  5. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  6. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  7. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  8. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  9. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  10. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  11. He was locked up in a ________________.
  12. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  13. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  14. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  15. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  16. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  17. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  18. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  19. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  20. False peace will not ________________.
  21. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  22. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  23. The ________________ took off on time.
  24. The spa offers ________________ extensions.

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

Answer key

  1. stick — to attach or keep to
  2. wound — past of 'wind'
  3. cell — a phone
  4. stick — a piece of wood
  5. plane — in geometry
  6. shower — to wash
  7. stick — a piece of wood
  8. straw — a straw man
  9. shower — a meteor shower
  10. plane — a tool
  11. cell — in a prison
  12. wound — an injury
  13. last — finally
  14. last — final
  15. straw — dry grass
  16. shower — rain
  17. wound — an injury
  18. straw — to clutch at straws
  19. lash — a whip stroke
  20. last — to go on
  21. lash — to lash out
  22. cell — in biology
  23. plane — an aircraft
  24. lash — an eyelash

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