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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: kid · drill · spring · straw · lash · fan · wound · pit

  1. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  2. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  3. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  4. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  5. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  6. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  7. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  11. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  12. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  15. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  16. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  17. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  18. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  19. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  20. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  21. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  22. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  23. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  24. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?

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

Answer key

  1. lash — to lash out
  2. wound — an injury
  3. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  4. pit — a fruit stone
  5. spring — the season
  6. drill — a practice
  7. lash — a whip stroke
  8. kid — to tease
  9. spring — of water
  10. wound — past of 'wind'
  11. straw — a straw man
  12. fan — to cool the air
  13. kid — child
  14. pit — a hole
  15. fan — a supporter
  16. straw — dry grass
  17. pit — in a race
  18. drill — the tool
  19. drill — army training
  20. wound — an injury
  21. spring — a coil
  22. straw — to clutch at straws
  23. lash — an eyelash
  24. fan — a supporter

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