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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 120 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: mug · staff · shower · wound · cold · stand · kid · pop

  1. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  3. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  4. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  7. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  8. We're almost out of ________________.
  9. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  12. Where did you ________________ them?
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  15. I can't ________________ this cold.
  16. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  17. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  18. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  19. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  20. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  23. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  24. You don't need to ________________ round.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. mug — a face
  3. wound — an injury
  4. wound — an injury
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. stand — on your feet
  7. staff — employees
  8. pop — soda
  9. wound — past of 'wind'
  10. cold — not warm
  11. shower — a meteor shower
  12. mug — to rob
  13. kid — to tease
  14. staff — employees
  15. stand — to bear
  16. staff — a stick
  17. stand — for spectators
  18. shower — to wash
  19. pop — music
  20. mug — a cup
  21. cold — an illness
  22. shower — rain
  23. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  24. pop — to visit

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