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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: key · cell · wind · file · wake · cold · row · suit

  1. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. When will it ________________ you to start?
  5. He was locked up in a ________________.
  6. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  9. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  10. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  11. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  12. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  13. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  14. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  15. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  16. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  17. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  18. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  19. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  20. This piece is in a major ________________.
  21. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  22. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wake — before a funeral
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. cold — not warm
  4. suit — to fit
  5. cell — in a prison
  6. key — for a lock
  7. cold — an illness
  8. suit — clothes
  9. wind — moving air
  10. key — the most important part
  11. wind — to turn a key
  12. cell — in biology
  13. row — a quarrel
  14. row — to paddle
  15. wake — a trail
  16. wake — to stop sleeping
  17. file — a tool
  18. wind — moving air
  19. row — a line
  20. key — in music
  21. cell — a phone
  22. file — a document
  23. file — a line of people
  24. suit — in cards

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