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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 haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  2. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  3. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. When are we going to ________________?
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  9. What do you think of the new ________________?
  10. False peace will not ________________.
  11. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  12. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  13. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  14. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  15. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  16. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  17. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  18. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  19. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  20. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  21. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  22. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  23. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  24. He hit the ball with his ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. racket — for tennis
  2. drill — army training
  3. last — finally
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. land — to come down
  6. cold — not warm
  7. cold — an illness
  8. wake — a trail
  9. cabinet — ministers
  10. last — to go on
  11. wake — before a funeral
  12. prune — to trim
  13. land — a country
  14. prune — to trim
  15. wake — to stop sleeping
  16. cabinet — ministers
  17. cabinet — a cupboard
  18. land — ground
  19. drill — the tool
  20. racket — a loud noise
  21. last — final
  22. drill — a practice
  23. prune — the fruit
  24. racket — for tennis

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