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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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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: rash · staff · cue · shower · file · cold · spell · row

  1. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  3. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  4. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  5. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  6. Don't do anything ________________.
  7. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  8. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  9. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  10. How do you ________________ your surname?
  11. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  12. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  13. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  14. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  15. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  16. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  17. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  20. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  21. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  22. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. row — a quarrel
  3. shower — to wash
  4. cue — a hint
  5. cue — for pool
  6. rash — hasty
  7. row — to paddle
  8. file — a tool
  9. file — a document
  10. spell — letters
  11. staff — a stick
  12. staff — employees
  13. rash — a series
  14. shower — a meteor shower
  15. shower — rain
  16. spell — a short time
  17. cue — a signal
  18. cold — not warm
  19. row — a line
  20. staff — employees
  21. rash — on the skin
  22. spell — magic
  23. file — a line of people
  24. cold — the Cold War

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