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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: pop · tear · cue · arm · chair · cold · ground · wake

  1. My father caught me by the ________________.
  2. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  3. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  6. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  7. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  8. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  9. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  10. We're almost out of ________________.
  11. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  12. There's no middle ________________.
  13. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  14. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  15. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  16. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  17. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  18. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  19. You don't need to ________________ round.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  22. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.

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

Answer key

  1. arm — part of the body
  2. cue — a signal
  3. cue — a hint
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. tear — from crying
  6. chair — to sit on
  7. chair — a professorship
  8. pop — music
  9. ground — the earth
  10. pop — soda
  11. ground — crushed
  12. ground — a position
  13. wake — to stop sleeping
  14. cue — for pool
  15. chair — a leader
  16. tear — to rip
  17. wake — before a funeral
  18. arm — a part of something
  19. pop — to visit
  20. cold — an illness
  21. tear — from crying
  22. arm — part of the body
  23. cold — not warm
  24. wake — a trail

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