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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: cue · fall · cold · cell · land · race

  1. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  2. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  3. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  6. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  7. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. When are we going to ________________?
  12. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  13. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  14. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  15. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  16. He was locked up in a ________________.
  17. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  18. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.

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

Answer key

  1. fall — to drop
  2. cue — for pool
  3. cue — a signal
  4. cold — an illness
  5. fall — the season
  6. race — humankind
  7. cue — a hint
  8. cold — not warm
  9. land — ground
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. land — to come down
  12. cell — in biology
  13. cell — a phone
  14. land — a country
  15. race — the arms race
  16. cell — in a prison
  17. race — a contest
  18. fall — to drop

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