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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. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  2. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. The King held a masked ________________.
  8. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  9. He was locked up in a ________________.
  10. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  11. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  12. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  13. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  14. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  15. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  16. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  17. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  18. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  19. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  20. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  21. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  24. False peace will not ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cue — a hint
  2. last — final
  3. row — to paddle
  4. cold — not warm
  5. cue — a signal
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. ball — a dance
  8. cell — a phone
  9. cell — in a prison
  10. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  11. kick — in football
  12. row — a quarrel
  13. cue — for pool
  14. ball — a great time
  15. kid — to tease
  16. kick — with a leg
  17. kick — a thrill
  18. cell — in biology
  19. kid — child
  20. row — a line
  21. last — finally
  22. cold — an illness
  23. ball — a round shape
  24. last — to go on

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