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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. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  2. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  3. She's very handy with a ________________.
  4. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  7. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  8. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  9. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  10. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  11. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  12. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  13. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  14. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  15. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  16. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. He works in a ________________ mill.
  20. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  21. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  22. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  23. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  24. He was blown up by a land ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — for digging
  2. squash — to crush
  3. saw — the tool
  4. trunk — of a car
  5. cold — not warm
  6. wind — moving air
  7. bore — to drill
  8. band — a music group
  9. squash — the sport
  10. wind — moving air
  11. trunk — of an elephant
  12. mine — belonging to me
  13. bore — gave birth
  14. saw — past of 'see'
  15. squash — the vegetable
  16. bore — to tire
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. cold — an illness
  19. saw — the tool
  20. band — a ring
  21. wind — to turn a key
  22. trunk — of a tree
  23. band — a rubber band
  24. mine — an explosive

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