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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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  3. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  4. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  5. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  6. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  7. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  8. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  9. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  12. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  13. It's one o'clock ________________.
  14. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  15. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  16. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  17. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  18. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  19. He is an ace ________________.
  20. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  21. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  22. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  24. We took cover from the thunder ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. cue — a signal
  3. rule — to rule out
  4. pitcher — a jug
  5. rule — government
  6. chest — of your body
  7. rule — a law
  8. cue — for pool
  9. kid — child
  10. chest — a box
  11. chest — of your body
  12. wind — moving air
  13. sharp — exactly
  14. sharp — clever
  15. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  16. shower — to wash
  17. cue — a hint
  18. pitcher — a jug
  19. pitcher — in baseball
  20. wind — moving air
  21. wind — to turn a key
  22. sharp — with an edge
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  24. shower — rain

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