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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: roll · cold · wave · clip · mate · cell · pass · rash

  1. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  4. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  5. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  6. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  7. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  8. Don't do anything ________________.
  9. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. Have you found your soul ________________?
  14. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  17. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  18. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  22. He was locked up in a ________________.
  23. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  24. We're on a ________________ here.

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

Answer key

  1. mate — a friend
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. pass — a permit
  4. pass — to succeed
  5. mate — to breed
  6. rash — on the skin
  7. wave — of the sea
  8. rash — hasty
  9. wave — a sudden rise
  10. clip — to cut
  11. cell — a phone
  12. clip — for paper
  13. mate — a partner
  14. cell — in biology
  15. clip — a video
  16. rash — a series
  17. wave — with your hand
  18. pass — to spend time
  19. cold — an illness
  20. cold — not warm
  21. roll — a list
  22. cell — in a prison
  23. roll — a cake
  24. roll — on a roll

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