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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. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  3. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  4. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  5. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  6. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  10. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  11. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  12. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  15. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  16. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  17. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  18. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  19. False peace will not ________________.
  20. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  21. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  22. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  23. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  24. I can't ________________ this cold.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  3. fall — to drop
  4. hand — help
  5. stand — for spectators
  6. stand — on your feet
  7. cold — not warm
  8. kid — to tease
  9. drill — the tool
  10. fall — to drop
  11. snap — to click
  12. hand — part of the body
  13. cold — an illness
  14. fall — the season
  15. snap — to speak sharply
  16. kid — child
  17. drill — a practice
  18. last — final
  19. last — to go on
  20. snap — to snap out of it
  21. hand — in cards
  22. drill — army training
  23. last — finally
  24. stand — to bear

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