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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: straw · hand · cell · wax · chest · bulb · patient · cue

  1. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  3. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  4. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  5. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  6. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  7. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  8. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  9. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  10. I've got to change the light ________________.
  11. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  12. The light ________________ burned out.
  13. He was locked up in a ________________.
  14. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  15. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  16. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  17. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  18. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  19. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  20. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  21. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  22. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  23. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  24. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. cue — for pool
  3. straw — a straw man
  4. hand — in cards
  5. wax — for sculpting
  6. cell — in biology
  7. chest — of your body
  8. chest — of your body
  9. patient — calm and waiting
  10. bulb — for light
  11. bulb — of a plant
  12. bulb — for light
  13. cell — in a prison
  14. cell — a phone
  15. hand — part of the body
  16. cue — a signal
  17. straw — to clutch at straws
  18. wax — to grow
  19. wax — in the ear
  20. straw — dry grass
  21. patient — a sick person
  22. patient — a sick person
  23. cue — a hint
  24. chest — a box

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