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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. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  2. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  3. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  4. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  5. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  6. He was locked up in a ________________.
  7. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  11. This piece is in a major ________________.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  19. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  23. Did you ________________ the meat?
  24. I had a ________________ with my boss today.

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

Answer key

  1. cue — a signal
  2. row — a line
  3. season — of the year
  4. season — in sport
  5. row — to paddle
  6. cell — in a prison
  7. key — for a lock
  8. cold — not warm
  9. cold — an illness
  10. bat — the animal
  11. key — in music
  12. clip — a video
  13. cue — a hint
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. cell — in biology
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. clip — to cut
  18. cue — for pool
  19. cell — a phone
  20. clip — for paper
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. key — the most important part
  23. season — to add flavour
  24. row — a quarrel

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