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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: hand · cold · rash · cue · tube · wind · cell · rest

  1. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  2. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  3. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  7. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  8. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  9. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  10. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  13. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  14. Don't do anything ________________.
  15. He was locked up in a ________________.
  16. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  17. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  18. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  19. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  20. I'll be taking the ________________.
  21. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  22. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  23. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  24. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — part of the body
  2. rash — on the skin
  3. cue — a signal
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. cold — an illness
  6. hand — in cards
  7. wind — moving air
  8. cue — for pool
  9. cue — a hint
  10. wind — moving air
  11. cold — not warm
  12. tube — in a tire
  13. wind — to turn a key
  14. rash — hasty
  15. cell — in a prison
  16. cell — in biology
  17. rest — a break
  18. cell — a phone
  19. hand — help
  20. tube — the underground
  21. rest — what's left
  22. tube — a container
  23. rash — a series
  24. rest — what's left

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