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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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Word bank
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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: root · cell · mug · file · ground · cold · hand · kid

  1. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  2. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  3. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  4. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  8. He was locked up in a ________________.
  9. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  10. Where did you ________________ them?
  11. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  12. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  15. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  16. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  17. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  18. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  19. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  20. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  21. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  22. There's no middle ________________.
  23. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  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. cell — in biology
  3. ground — the earth
  4. hand — part of the body
  5. hand — help
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. mug — a cup
  8. cell — in a prison
  9. kid — child
  10. mug — to rob
  11. mug — a face
  12. root — of a plant
  13. cold — an illness
  14. cell — a phone
  15. file — a line of people
  16. file — a tool
  17. ground — crushed
  18. file — a document
  19. root — of a word
  20. kid — to tease
  21. root — the cause
  22. ground — a position
  23. hand — in cards
  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