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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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  4. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  5. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  6. The ________________ went through the wall.
  7. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  8. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  9. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  10. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  11. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  12. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  13. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  14. False peace will not ________________.
  15. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  16. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  17. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  18. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  19. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  20. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  21. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  22. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  23. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  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. kid — to tease
  2. hand — help
  3. can — to be able to
  4. last — final
  5. nail — for a hammer
  6. nail — for a hammer
  7. content — happy
  8. nail — on a finger
  9. can — a tin
  10. content — videos and posts
  11. hand — in cards
  12. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  13. hand — part of the body
  14. last — to go on
  15. content — the amount
  16. mine — for digging
  17. mine — an explosive
  18. last — finally
  19. drill — the tool
  20. can — a tin
  21. kid — child
  22. drill — a practice
  23. mine — belonging to me
  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