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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: fan · swing · wave · fork · lash · tear · bark · cold

  1. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  2. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  3. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  4. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  5. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  6. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  7. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  8. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  9. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  10. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  11. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  14. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  15. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  16. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  17. David sat on the ________________.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  20. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  21. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  24. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — a supporter
  2. fan — to cool the air
  3. tear — from crying
  4. bark — to shout
  5. lash — to lash out
  6. tear — from crying
  7. lash — a whip stroke
  8. fork — to eat with
  9. swing — music
  10. tear — to rip
  11. wave — a sudden rise
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. lash — an eyelash
  14. wave — with your hand
  15. fork — in a road
  16. fork — a garden tool
  17. swing — to play on
  18. cold — an illness
  19. bark — of a tree
  20. fan — a supporter
  21. bark — a dog's sound
  22. cold — not warm
  23. swing — in golf
  24. wave — of the sea

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