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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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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: calf · pop · lash · cold · ground · stick · bat · wind

  1. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  2. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  3. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  4. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  5. There's no middle ________________.
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  8. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  9. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  10. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  11. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  16. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  17. We're almost out of ________________.
  18. You don't need to ________________ round.
  19. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  22. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  23. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. lash — a whip stroke
  2. stick — a piece of wood
  3. lash — an eyelash
  4. lash — to lash out
  5. ground — a position
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. calf — a young animal
  8. wind — to turn a key
  9. ground — crushed
  10. wind — moving air
  11. stick — a piece of wood
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. calf — a young animal
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. wind — moving air
  16. pop — music
  17. pop — soda
  18. pop — to visit
  19. stick — to attach or keep to
  20. cold — not warm
  21. bat — the animal
  22. calf — of the leg
  23. ground — the earth
  24. cold — an illness

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