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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: mate · rush · cue · clip · wound · cold · tear · court

  1. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  2. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  5. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  8. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  9. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  10. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  13. The ball is in your ________________.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  17. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  18. Have you found your soul ________________?
  19. That must've been a ________________.
  20. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  21. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  22. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.

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

Answer key

  1. cue — a signal
  2. wound — an injury
  3. cold — not warm
  4. wound — an injury
  5. cue — a hint
  6. clip — a video
  7. court — of a king
  8. cue — for pool
  9. mate — to breed
  10. tear — from crying
  11. cold — an illness
  12. mate — a friend
  13. court — for sport
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. clip — for paper
  16. rush — to hurry
  17. wound — past of 'wind'
  18. mate — a partner
  19. rush — a thrill
  20. court — of law
  21. rush — hurry
  22. tear — from crying
  23. clip — to cut
  24. tear — to rip

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