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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: cell · cold · band · chest · club · dip · mine · saw

  1. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  2. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  3. He works in a ________________ mill.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  6. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  7. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  8. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  9. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  10. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  13. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  14. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  15. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  16. He was locked up in a ________________.
  17. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  18. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  19. She's very handy with a ________________.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  22. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  23. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  24. She's sitting on a gold ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — an explosive
  2. dip — to sink
  3. saw — the tool
  4. cold — not warm
  5. cell — in biology
  6. cell — a phone
  7. dip — to dunk
  8. mine — belonging to me
  9. chest — of your body
  10. band — a ring
  11. cold — an illness
  12. saw — past of 'see'
  13. chest — a box
  14. club — for dancing
  15. band — a rubber band
  16. cell — in a prison
  17. chest — of your body
  18. club — for golf
  19. saw — the tool
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. dip — a sauce
  22. club — a group
  23. band — a music group
  24. mine — for digging

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