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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: wound · cell · kid · club · hand · rule · patient · dip

  1. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  4. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  5. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  6. He was locked up in a ________________.
  7. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  8. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  9. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  10. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  11. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  12. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  13. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  14. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  15. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  16. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  17. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  18. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  19. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  20. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  21. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  22. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  23. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  24. I got dealt a bad ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. club — for dancing
  2. kid — to tease
  3. dip — to sink
  4. kid — child
  5. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  6. cell — in a prison
  7. hand — part of the body
  8. club — for golf
  9. wound — an injury
  10. rule — government
  11. cell — a phone
  12. dip — to dunk
  13. dip — a sauce
  14. club — a group
  15. wound — an injury
  16. patient — a sick person
  17. rule — a law
  18. patient — calm and waiting
  19. wound — past of 'wind'
  20. hand — help
  21. rule — to rule out
  22. cell — in biology
  23. patient — a sick person
  24. hand — in cards

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