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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 120 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: chair · lash · temple · tear · shower · net · land · craft

  1. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  2. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  3. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  4. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  5. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  6. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  7. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  8. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  9. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  10. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  11. When are we going to ________________?
  12. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  13. When was this ________________ built?
  14. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  15. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  16. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  17. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  18. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  19. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  20. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  21. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  22. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  23. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  24. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.

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

Answer key

  1. lash — a whip stroke
  2. net — for catching
  3. craft — boats
  4. chair — a professorship
  5. tear — to rip
  6. temple — a place of worship
  7. chair — to sit on
  8. shower — a meteor shower
  9. craft — a skill
  10. tear — from crying
  11. land — to come down
  12. net — after costs
  13. temple — a place of worship
  14. lash — an eyelash
  15. lash — to lash out
  16. shower — rain
  17. chair — a leader
  18. net — in sport
  19. shower — to wash
  20. temple — side of the head
  21. craft — a handicraft
  22. tear — from crying
  23. land — ground
  24. land — a country

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