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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 116 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. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  3. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  4. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  5. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  6. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  9. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. That was a fun ________________.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  14. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  15. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  19. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  20. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  21. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  22. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  23. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  24. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.

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

Answer key

  1. drill — the tool
  2. scale — size or range
  3. prune — the fruit
  4. prune — to trim
  5. scale — for weighing
  6. scale — in music
  7. bat — the animal
  8. game — wild animals
  9. drill — a practice
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. game — a match
  12. cold — not warm
  13. bat — for baseball
  14. current — happening now
  15. prune — to trim
  16. cold — an illness
  17. rule — government
  18. bat — in an idiom
  19. current — electric
  20. drill — army training
  21. rule — a law
  22. game — a kind of play
  23. current — of water
  24. rule — to rule out

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