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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: land · bass · dip · cold · hide · cell · kid · firm

  1. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  2. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  3. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  4. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  7. He was locked up in a ________________.
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  10. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  11. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  12. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  15. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  16. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. When are we going to ________________?
  19. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  24. We have nothing to ________________ here.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  2. firm — steady
  3. firm — decided
  4. dip — to dunk
  5. kid — child
  6. cell — a phone
  7. cell — in a prison
  8. kid — to tease
  9. dip — a sauce
  10. bass — the instrument
  11. hide — animal skin
  12. hide — to keep secret
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. firm — a company
  15. cell — in biology
  16. dip — to sink
  17. cold — not warm
  18. land — to come down
  19. bass — low music
  20. cold — an illness
  21. bass — the fish
  22. land — a country
  23. land — ground
  24. hide — to keep secret

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