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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 met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  2. He is an ace ________________.
  3. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  4. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  5. We're on a ________________ here.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  8. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  9. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  12. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  13. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  14. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  15. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  16. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  17. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  18. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  19. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  20. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  21. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  24. She's sitting on a gold ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — belonging to me
  2. pitcher — in baseball
  3. firm — steady
  4. bank — for money
  5. roll — on a roll
  6. cold — an illness
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. mine — an explosive
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. roll — a cake
  12. hand — in cards
  13. roll — a list
  14. drill — army training
  15. bank — for money
  16. hand — part of the body
  17. drill — the tool
  18. drill — a practice
  19. bank — of a river
  20. firm — decided
  21. firm — a company
  22. cold — not warm
  23. hand — help
  24. mine — for digging

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