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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: cue · fall · cold · cell · land · race · court · prune

  1. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  2. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  7. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  8. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  9. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  10. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  11. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  12. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  13. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  14. He was locked up in a ________________.
  15. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  16. When are we going to ________________?
  17. The ball is in your ________________.
  18. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  19. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  20. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  21. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. cue — a hint
  2. cell — in biology
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. court — of a king
  5. cold — not warm
  6. fall — the season
  7. cue — for pool
  8. land — ground
  9. cue — a signal
  10. fall — to drop
  11. prune — to trim
  12. cell — a phone
  13. fall — to drop
  14. cell — in a prison
  15. race — humankind
  16. land — to come down
  17. court — for sport
  18. court — of law
  19. race — the arms race
  20. race — a contest
  21. prune — the fruit
  22. land — a country
  23. prune — to trim
  24. cold — an illness

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