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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: cell · bass · club · kid · current · row · dip · cold

  1. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  2. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  3. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  4. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  5. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  6. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  7. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  8. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  9. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  10. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  11. He was locked up in a ________________.
  12. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  15. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  16. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  19. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  22. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.

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

Answer key

  1. dip — to dunk
  2. row — to paddle
  3. cell — a phone
  4. bass — the fish
  5. current — of water
  6. bass — low music
  7. club — for golf
  8. club — a group
  9. cell — in biology
  10. dip — a sauce
  11. cell — in a prison
  12. current — electric
  13. kid — child
  14. bass — the instrument
  15. row — a quarrel
  16. dip — to sink
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. kid — to tease
  19. current — happening now
  20. cold — an illness
  21. row — a line
  22. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  23. cold — not warm
  24. club — for dancing

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