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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.

Make a worksheet

Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

Words on the sheet
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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: chest · straw · cue · spring · cold · squash · last · hand

  1. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  2. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  5. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  6. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  7. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  8. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  9. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  12. False peace will not ________________.
  13. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  14. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  15. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  18. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  19. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  20. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  21. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  22. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  23. The water is too ________________.
  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 — part of the body
  2. straw — a straw man
  3. spring — a coil
  4. hand — in cards
  5. cue — for pool
  6. straw — dry grass
  7. hand — help
  8. squash — to crush
  9. squash — the vegetable
  10. cold — an illness
  11. cue — a hint
  12. last — to go on
  13. spring — the season
  14. chest — of your body
  15. squash — the sport
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. last — finally
  18. straw — to clutch at straws
  19. cue — a signal
  20. chest — of your body
  21. spring — of water
  22. last — final
  23. cold — not warm
  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