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

Word bank: race · shower · press · cell · cold · cue

  1. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  4. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  5. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  6. Did you ________________ the button?
  7. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  8. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  9. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. He was locked up in a ________________.
  12. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  13. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  16. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  17. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  18. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cue — a signal
  2. cold — an illness
  3. race — the arms race
  4. press — a publisher
  5. shower — to wash
  6. press — to push
  7. press — newspapers
  8. cue — a hint
  9. shower — a meteor shower
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. cell — in a prison
  12. shower — rain
  13. cue — for pool
  14. cold — not warm
  15. race — a contest
  16. cell — a phone
  17. cell — in biology
  18. race — humankind

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