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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: hand · cap · cold · kid · branch · cell · cue · wake

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  3. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  4. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  5. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  6. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  7. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  10. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  11. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  12. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  16. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  17. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  18. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  19. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  20. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  21. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  22. He was locked up in a ________________.
  23. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  24. Do you need a ________________ with that?

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. cue — a hint
  3. cell — a phone
  4. branch — a division
  5. cue — for pool
  6. cap — a lid
  7. branch — of a tree
  8. cold — an illness
  9. wake — to stop sleeping
  10. cap — a hat
  11. hand — part of the body
  12. kid — to tease
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. kid — child
  15. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  16. cap — of ice
  17. cell — in biology
  18. wake — a trail
  19. hand — in cards
  20. branch — of a bank
  21. cue — a signal
  22. cell — in a prison
  23. wake — before a funeral
  24. hand — help

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