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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 116 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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Word bank
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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 · hand · land · net · stand · cell · mug · last

  1. I can't ________________ this cold.
  2. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  3. When are we going to ________________?
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. He was locked up in a ________________.
  6. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  7. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  8. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  9. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  10. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  11. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  12. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  13. False peace will not ________________.
  14. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  15. Where did you ________________ them?
  16. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  17. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  18. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  19. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  20. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  24. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.

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

Answer key

  1. stand — to bear
  2. mug — a cup
  3. land — to come down
  4. cold — an illness
  5. cell — in a prison
  6. hand — in cards
  7. last — final
  8. cell — in biology
  9. hand — help
  10. net — for catching
  11. last — finally
  12. net — after costs
  13. last — to go on
  14. hand — part of the body
  15. mug — to rob
  16. net — in sport
  17. land — ground
  18. stand — for spectators
  19. stand — on your feet
  20. cell — a phone
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. cold — not warm
  23. land — a country
  24. mug — a face

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