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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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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 · cell · race · ground · kid · wake · dip · rule

  1. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  2. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  3. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  4. There's no middle ________________.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  7. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  8. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  9. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  10. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  11. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  12. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  13. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  14. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  15. He was locked up in a ________________.
  16. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  17. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  18. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  19. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  23. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  24. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.

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

Answer key

  1. dip — to dunk
  2. wake — a trail
  3. ground — crushed
  4. ground — a position
  5. cold — not warm
  6. wake — to stop sleeping
  7. dip — a sauce
  8. dip — to sink
  9. cell — a phone
  10. rule — government
  11. wake — before a funeral
  12. kid — child
  13. ground — the earth
  14. rule — a law
  15. cell — in a prison
  16. race — the arms race
  17. kid — to tease
  18. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  19. rule — to rule out
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. cold — an illness
  22. race — humankind
  23. race — a contest
  24. cell — in biology

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