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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: kid · shower · cue · arm · lash · chair · nail · cold

  1. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  2. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  3. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  4. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  5. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  6. My father caught me by the ________________.
  7. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  8. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. The ________________ went through the wall.
  11. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  12. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  13. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  14. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  15. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  16. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  17. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  18. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  19. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  24. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.

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

Answer key

  1. lash — to lash out
  2. chair — a leader
  3. chair — to sit on
  4. cue — a hint
  5. arm — part of the body
  6. arm — part of the body
  7. cue — a signal
  8. lash — an eyelash
  9. cold — not warm
  10. nail — for a hammer
  11. nail — on a finger
  12. shower — rain
  13. chair — a professorship
  14. arm — a part of something
  15. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  16. kid — to tease
  17. kid — child
  18. nail — for a hammer
  19. shower — a meteor shower
  20. cold — an illness
  21. lash — a whip stroke
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. shower — to wash
  24. cue — for pool

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