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

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  3. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  4. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  5. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  8. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  9. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  13. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  14. David sat on the ________________.
  15. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  16. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  17. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  18. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  19. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  20. He was locked up in a ________________.
  21. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  22. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  23. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  24. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. cue — a signal
  3. cue — a hint
  4. spring — of water
  5. shower — rain
  6. cold — an illness
  7. bank — of a river
  8. shower — to wash
  9. cell — a phone
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. spring — the season
  12. rule — to rule out
  13. bank — for money
  14. swing — to play on
  15. rule — government
  16. bank — for money
  17. cue — for pool
  18. shower — a meteor shower
  19. cell — in biology
  20. cell — in a prison
  21. swing — music
  22. swing — in golf
  23. rule — a law
  24. spring — a coil

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