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

Word bank: content · cold · current · prune · cue · cell · band · face

  1. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  5. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  6. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  7. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  10. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  11. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  12. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  13. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  14. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  15. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  16. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  17. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  18. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  19. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  20. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  21. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. He was locked up in a ________________.
  24. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.

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

Answer key

  1. cue — a signal
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. content — happy
  4. content — the amount
  5. face — to confront
  6. prune — the fruit
  7. cue — for pool
  8. cold — not warm
  9. band — a music group
  10. face — part of the head
  11. band — a rubber band
  12. prune — to trim
  13. cell — in biology
  14. cue — a hint
  15. face — to point toward
  16. content — videos and posts
  17. current — electric
  18. current — of water
  19. band — a ring
  20. cell — a phone
  21. prune — to trim
  22. cold — an illness
  23. cell — in a prison
  24. current — happening now

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