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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. That was ________________ to happen.
  3. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  4. Have you met the new head ________________?
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  7. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  8. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  9. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  10. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  11. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  12. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  13. When are we going to ________________?
  14. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  15. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  16. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  17. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  18. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  19. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  20. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  21. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  22. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  23. That was a fun ________________.
  24. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.

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

Answer key

  1. drill — the tool
  2. bound — certain
  3. bound — tied together
  4. coach — a trainer
  5. capital — money
  6. capital — a big letter
  7. mine — for digging
  8. land — a country
  9. bound — obliged
  10. coach — pulled by horses
  11. band — a ring
  12. coach — a trainer
  13. land — to come down
  14. game — a kind of play
  15. mine — belonging to me
  16. game — wild animals
  17. mine — an explosive
  18. capital — a city
  19. band — a rubber band
  20. land — ground
  21. drill — a practice
  22. band — a music group
  23. game — a match
  24. drill — army training

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