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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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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: hand · sharp · kid · mouse · branch · cold · cue · game

  1. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  2. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  3. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  4. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  9. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  10. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  11. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  12. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  13. It's one o'clock ________________.
  14. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  15. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  16. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  19. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  20. That was a fun ________________.
  21. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  24. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — with an edge
  2. hand — in cards
  3. cue — a hint
  4. cue — a signal
  5. kid — child
  6. cold — not warm
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. sharp — clever
  9. game — a kind of play
  10. kid — to tease
  11. mouse — the animal
  12. branch — of a tree
  13. sharp — exactly
  14. hand — part of the body
  15. game — wild animals
  16. branch — a division
  17. cold — an illness
  18. mouse — the animal
  19. cue — for pool
  20. game — a match
  21. mouse — for a computer
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. hand — help
  24. branch — of a bank

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