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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: wind · cell · kid · cold · pound · shower · firm · pitcher

  1. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  2. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  3. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  7. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  8. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  9. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  10. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  11. He is an ace ________________.
  12. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  13. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  14. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  15. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  16. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  17. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  18. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  19. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  20. He was locked up in a ________________.
  21. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  22. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  23. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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 — a company
  3. shower — rain
  4. cold — an illness
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. pitcher — a jug
  7. firm — decided
  8. pound — to hit hard
  9. wind — moving air
  10. firm — steady
  11. pitcher — in baseball
  12. kid — child
  13. cell — in biology
  14. pound — for dogs
  15. pound — a weight
  16. kid — to tease
  17. shower — to wash
  18. wind — moving air
  19. cell — a phone
  20. cell — in a prison
  21. shower — a meteor shower
  22. wind — to turn a key
  23. pitcher — a jug
  24. cold — not warm

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