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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: face · chest · cell · hand · lash · mine · fall · row

  1. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  2. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  5. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  6. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  7. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  8. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  9. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  10. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  11. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  12. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  13. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  14. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  15. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  16. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  17. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  18. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  19. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  20. He was locked up in a ________________.
  21. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  22. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.

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

Answer key

  1. lash — a whip stroke
  2. mine — an explosive
  3. chest — of your body
  4. cell — a phone
  5. fall — the season
  6. hand — help
  7. face — part of the head
  8. fall — to drop
  9. chest — of your body
  10. hand — part of the body
  11. face — to point toward
  12. face — to confront
  13. lash — to lash out
  14. row — a line
  15. chest — a box
  16. mine — for digging
  17. lash — an eyelash
  18. row — a quarrel
  19. hand — in cards
  20. cell — in a prison
  21. row — to paddle
  22. mine — belonging to me
  23. cell — in biology
  24. fall — to drop

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