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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 116 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: kid · lie · cell · bear · cold · game · staff · straw

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  3. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  4. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  5. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  6. That was a fun ________________.
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. He was locked up in a ________________.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  11. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  12. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  13. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  14. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  15. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  16. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  17. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  18. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  19. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  22. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  23. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  24. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. lie — an untruth
  3. straw — a straw man
  4. staff — employees
  5. straw — to clutch at straws
  6. game — a match
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. cell — in a prison
  9. cold — an illness
  10. lie — an untruth
  11. bear — the animal
  12. kid — to tease
  13. bear — the animal
  14. game — wild animals
  15. cell — in biology
  16. lie — to recline
  17. cell — a phone
  18. straw — dry grass
  19. staff — employees
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. bear — to put up with
  22. game — a kind of play
  23. staff — a stick
  24. kid — child

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