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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 116 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. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  3. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  6. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  7. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  8. That was a fun ________________.
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  11. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  12. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  15. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  16. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  17. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  18. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. I can't ________________ this cold.
  23. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  24. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. snap — to snap out of it
  3. snap — to click
  4. degree — from a university
  5. fan — to cool the air
  6. hand — in cards
  7. hand — help
  8. game — a match
  9. degree — an amount
  10. cue — a signal
  11. game — a kind of play
  12. stand — for spectators
  13. degree — temperature
  14. snap — to speak sharply
  15. cue — a hint
  16. hand — part of the body
  17. cue — for pool
  18. fan — a supporter
  19. cold — not warm
  20. stand — on your feet
  21. cold — an illness
  22. stand — to bear
  23. game — wild animals
  24. fan — a supporter

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