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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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  2. How do you ________________ your surname?
  3. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  4. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  7. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  8. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  9. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  10. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  11. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  12. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  13. David sat on the ________________.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  17. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  18. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  19. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  20. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  21. He was locked up in a ________________.
  22. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  23. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  24. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.

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

Answer key

  1. drill — the tool
  2. spell — letters
  3. drill — a practice
  4. drill — army training
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. cell — a phone
  7. spell — a short time
  8. capital — a city
  9. spell — magic
  10. bear — the animal
  11. cue — a signal
  12. capital — money
  13. swing — to play on
  14. cold — an illness
  15. cold — not warm
  16. bear — the animal
  17. cell — in biology
  18. bear — to put up with
  19. cue — a hint
  20. swing — in golf
  21. cell — in a prison
  22. swing — music
  23. capital — a big letter
  24. cue — for pool

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