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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: field · stick · can · cue · last · chest · cold · wound

  1. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  2. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  3. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  6. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  7. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  8. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  11. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  12. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  13. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  14. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  15. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  18. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  19. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  22. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  23. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  24. False peace will not ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. stick — a piece of wood
  2. cue — a hint
  3. stick — a piece of wood
  4. cold — an illness
  5. cue — for pool
  6. chest — of your body
  7. field — for sport
  8. cue — a signal
  9. field — farmland
  10. stick — to attach or keep to
  11. last — finally
  12. can — to be able to
  13. last — final
  14. field — a subject
  15. wound — an injury
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. can — a tin
  18. wound — an injury
  19. can — a tin
  20. cold — not warm
  21. chest — of your body
  22. wound — past of 'wind'
  23. chest — a box
  24. last — to go on

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