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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: cold · hand · lash · saw · season · club · fall · cell

  1. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  2. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  3. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  6. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  7. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  8. He was locked up in a ________________.
  9. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  10. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  11. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  12. She's very handy with a ________________.
  13. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. Did you ________________ the meat?
  16. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  17. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  18. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  19. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  20. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  21. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  24. He works in a ________________ mill.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — a phone
  2. club — for golf
  3. lash — an eyelash
  4. cold — not warm
  5. season — of the year
  6. club — for dancing
  7. fall — the season
  8. cell — in a prison
  9. fall — to drop
  10. saw — past of 'see'
  11. lash — to lash out
  12. saw — the tool
  13. club — a group
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. season — to add flavour
  16. lash — a whip stroke
  17. fall — to drop
  18. hand — part of the body
  19. hand — help
  20. cell — in biology
  21. season — in sport
  22. cold — an illness
  23. hand — in cards
  24. saw — the tool

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