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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: cold · rule · cell · chest · trunk · march · cue · stick

  1. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  2. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  6. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  7. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  8. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  9. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  10. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  11. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  12. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  13. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  14. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. He was locked up in a ________________.
  17. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  18. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  19. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  20. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  21. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  22. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  23. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  24. I've got the luggage in my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. march — music
  2. rule — government
  3. cold — not warm
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. cell — a phone
  6. trunk — of an elephant
  7. cue — a hint
  8. cue — for pool
  9. stick — a piece of wood
  10. rule — to rule out
  11. chest — of your body
  12. stick — a piece of wood
  13. march — the month
  14. cell — in biology
  15. cold — an illness
  16. cell — in a prison
  17. trunk — of a tree
  18. rule — a law
  19. chest — of your body
  20. cue — a signal
  21. stick — to attach or keep to
  22. march — the month
  23. chest — a box
  24. trunk — of a car

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