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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: bat · kid · suit · cold · row · cue · sharp · wind

  1. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  2. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  3. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  4. It's one o'clock ________________.
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  7. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  10. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  11. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  16. When will it ________________ you to start?
  17. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  18. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  19. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  22. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a quarrel
  2. cue — a signal
  3. row — to paddle
  4. sharp — exactly
  5. kid — child
  6. wind — moving air
  7. row — a line
  8. cold — an illness
  9. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  10. cue — for pool
  11. wind — moving air
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. cold — not warm
  15. suit — clothes
  16. suit — to fit
  17. sharp — clever
  18. sharp — with an edge
  19. suit — in cards
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. cue — a hint
  22. wind — to turn a key
  23. bat — the animal
  24. kid — to tease

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