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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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  4. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  5. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  6. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  7. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  8. Have you found your soul ________________?
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  11. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  12. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  13. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  14. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  15. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  18. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  19. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  20. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  21. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  22. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  23. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  24. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.

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

Answer key

  1. drill — the tool
  2. kid — to tease
  3. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  4. bat — for baseball
  5. drill — army training
  6. wind — to turn a key
  7. trunk — of a car
  8. mate — a partner
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. mate — to breed
  11. prune — to trim
  12. drill — a practice
  13. wind — moving air
  14. prune — to trim
  15. trunk — of an elephant
  16. bat — the animal
  17. march — the month
  18. kid — child
  19. wind — moving air
  20. trunk — of a tree
  21. march — the month
  22. prune — the fruit
  23. mate — a friend
  24. march — music

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