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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: current · dip · kid · shower · cold · bat · cue · fine

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  3. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  4. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  7. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  8. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  9. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  10. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  13. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  14. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  15. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  18. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  19. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  20. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  21. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. shower — a meteor shower
  3. shower — to wash
  4. current — happening now
  5. kid — child
  6. fine — all right
  7. kid — to tease
  8. fine — high quality
  9. dip — to dunk
  10. bat — the animal
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. fine — a penalty
  13. cue — a signal
  14. current — of water
  15. cue — for pool
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. shower — rain
  18. dip — to sink
  19. cue — a hint
  20. dip — a sauce
  21. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  22. cold — an illness
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. current — electric

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