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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: lash · bowl · wake · spring · cold · bat · roll · face

  1. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  2. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  3. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  4. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  5. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  6. We're on a ________________ here.
  7. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  8. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  16. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  17. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  20. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  21. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  24. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.

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

Answer key

  1. lash — a whip stroke
  2. bowl — a dish
  3. bowl — a football final
  4. roll — a cake
  5. wake — to stop sleeping
  6. roll — on a roll
  7. lash — an eyelash
  8. face — part of the head
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. roll — a list
  11. cold — not warm
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. wake — before a funeral
  14. cold — an illness
  15. spring — the season
  16. face — to confront
  17. spring — of water
  18. bat — the animal
  19. bowl — to roll
  20. spring — a coil
  21. wake — a trail
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. face — to point toward
  24. lash — to lash out

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