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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. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  3. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  4. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  5. He was locked up in a ________________.
  6. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  7. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  8. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  9. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  10. What do you think of the new ________________?
  11. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  12. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  13. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  14. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  15. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  16. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  19. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  22. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  23. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  24. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. kid — child
  3. chair — to sit on
  4. wound — past of 'wind'
  5. cell — in a prison
  6. chair — a leader
  7. wax — to grow
  8. cell — in biology
  9. shower — to wash
  10. cabinet — ministers
  11. wax — in the ear
  12. cabinet — ministers
  13. wound — an injury
  14. shower — a meteor shower
  15. kid — to tease
  16. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  17. cold — an illness
  18. cabinet — a cupboard
  19. shower — rain
  20. cold — not warm
  21. wound — an injury
  22. wax — for sculpting
  23. cell — a phone
  24. chair — a professorship

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