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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: snap · shower · wind · kid · track · club · cold · cell

  1. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  5. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  6. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  7. He was locked up in a ________________.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  10. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  11. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  12. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  13. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  14. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  15. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  16. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  17. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  18. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  19. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  20. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  21. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  22. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  23. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  24. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.

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

Answer key

  1. track — a path
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. cold — an illness
  4. shower — to wash
  5. snap — to speak sharply
  6. kid — child
  7. cell — in a prison
  8. cold — not warm
  9. cell — in biology
  10. snap — to click
  11. cell — a phone
  12. shower — rain
  13. shower — a meteor shower
  14. club — for golf
  15. club — a group
  16. wind — moving air
  17. snap — to snap out of it
  18. kid — to tease
  19. wind — moving air
  20. track — a song
  21. track — to keep track
  22. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  23. club — for dancing
  24. wind — to turn a key

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