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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: cold · degree · wind · land · press · lash · perch · wound

  1. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  2. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  3. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  4. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  5. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  6. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  10. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  11. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  14. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  15. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  16. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. When are we going to ________________?
  19. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  22. Did you ________________ the button?
  23. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  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 — an eyelash
  2. lash — a whip stroke
  3. wind — moving air
  4. press — newspapers
  5. land — a country
  6. press — a publisher
  7. degree — an amount
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. wind — to turn a key
  10. wound — an injury
  11. lash — to lash out
  12. degree — temperature
  13. perch — for a bird
  14. land — ground
  15. perch — the fish
  16. wound — past of 'wind'
  17. degree — from a university
  18. land — to come down
  19. perch — for a bird
  20. cold — not warm
  21. wound — an injury
  22. press — to push
  23. wind — moving air
  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