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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: fan · nail · lash · tube · hand · cold · saw · prune

  1. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  2. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  3. I'll be taking the ________________.
  4. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  5. He works in a ________________ mill.
  6. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  7. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  8. She's very handy with a ________________.
  9. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  10. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  16. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  17. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  18. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  19. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  20. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  21. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  22. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  23. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  24. The ________________ went through the wall.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. saw — past of 'see'
  3. tube — the underground
  4. fan — a supporter
  5. saw — the tool
  6. hand — help
  7. hand — part of the body
  8. saw — the tool
  9. lash — to lash out
  10. tube — in a tire
  11. cold — not warm
  12. nail — on a finger
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. cold — an illness
  15. hand — in cards
  16. lash — a whip stroke
  17. prune — to trim
  18. prune — the fruit
  19. tube — a container
  20. lash — an eyelash
  21. fan — to cool the air
  22. fan — a supporter
  23. nail — for a hammer
  24. nail — for a hammer

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