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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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  3. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  4. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  5. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  6. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  9. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  10. That was a fun ________________.
  11. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  12. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  13. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  14. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  15. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  16. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  17. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  18. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  19. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  20. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  21. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. cue — a hint
  3. fan — to cool the air
  4. fan — a supporter
  5. game — wild animals
  6. rock — music
  7. cold — not warm
  8. cue — a signal
  9. patient — a sick person
  10. game — a match
  11. game — a kind of play
  12. bank — for money
  13. cue — for pool
  14. rock — a stone
  15. bank — for money
  16. rock — to move gently
  17. patient — a sick person
  18. bank — of a river
  19. hand — in cards
  20. hand — part of the body
  21. fan — a supporter
  22. cold — an illness
  23. patient — calm and waiting
  24. cold — the Cold War

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