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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: shower · pit · lash · deal · cold · fork · game · chair

  1. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  3. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  6. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  7. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  8. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  9. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  10. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  11. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  12. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  13. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  16. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  17. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  18. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  19. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  20. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  21. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  22. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  23. That was a fun ________________.
  24. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. pit — a fruit stone
  3. shower — rain
  4. cold — not warm
  5. shower — a meteor shower
  6. lash — an eyelash
  7. lash — to lash out
  8. chair — to sit on
  9. chair — a leader
  10. fork — in a road
  11. shower — to wash
  12. game — wild animals
  13. deal — to handle
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. chair — a professorship
  16. fork — a garden tool
  17. fork — to eat with
  18. pit — a hole
  19. game — a kind of play
  20. deal — an agreement
  21. pit — in a race
  22. lash — a whip stroke
  23. game — a match
  24. deal — a big deal

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