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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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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: firm · cold · cell · saw · kick · last

  1. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  2. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  3. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  4. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. He was locked up in a ________________.
  7. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  8. He works in a ________________ mill.
  9. She's very handy with a ________________.
  10. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. False peace will not ________________.
  13. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  14. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  15. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  18. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — a phone
  2. firm — steady
  3. kick — with a leg
  4. last — final
  5. cold — not warm
  6. cell — in a prison
  7. kick — a thrill
  8. saw — the tool
  9. saw — the tool
  10. last — finally
  11. cold — an illness
  12. last — to go on
  13. firm — a company
  14. saw — past of 'see'
  15. kick — in football
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. firm — decided
  18. cell — in biology

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