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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 · cold · chest · field · deal · cue · prune · fan

  1. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  2. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  3. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  4. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  7. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  8. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  14. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  15. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  16. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  17. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  18. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. He was locked up in a ________________.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  23. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  24. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. cue — a hint
  3. deal — an agreement
  4. chest — of your body
  5. cold — not warm
  6. cue — for pool
  7. cell — in biology
  8. cell — a phone
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. chest — a box
  11. fan — to cool the air
  12. field — a subject
  13. field — farmland
  14. cue — a signal
  15. deal — to handle
  16. fan — a supporter
  17. deal — a big deal
  18. prune — the fruit
  19. field — for sport
  20. cell — in a prison
  21. cold — an illness
  22. prune — to trim
  23. fan — a supporter
  24. prune — to trim

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