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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: lash · clip · bowl · face · row · roll · rush · bat

  1. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  2. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  3. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  4. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  5. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  6. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  9. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  10. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  11. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  12. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  13. That must've been a ________________.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. We're on a ________________ here.
  17. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  20. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  21. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to confront
  2. bowl — to roll
  3. rush — hurry
  4. face — to point toward
  5. row — to paddle
  6. roll — a cake
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. bowl — a dish
  9. bowl — a football final
  10. rush — to hurry
  11. face — part of the head
  12. lash — to lash out
  13. rush — a thrill
  14. clip — to cut
  15. clip — for paper
  16. roll — on a roll
  17. roll — a list
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. lash — an eyelash
  20. lash — a whip stroke
  21. row — a quarrel
  22. clip — a video
  23. row — a line
  24. bat — the animal

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