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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 120 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. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  5. Have you met the new head ________________?
  6. The ________________ market has crashed.
  7. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  8. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  15. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  16. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  17. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. The ________________ went through the wall.
  20. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  23. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  24. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.

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

Answer key

  1. drill — the tool
  2. cold — an illness
  3. bat — the animal
  4. drill — army training
  5. coach — a trainer
  6. stock — shares
  7. bank — for money
  8. drill — a practice
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. stock — goods
  11. degree — temperature
  12. bank — of a river
  13. degree — from a university
  14. coach — pulled by horses
  15. bank — for money
  16. coach — a trainer
  17. stock — a soup base
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. nail — for a hammer
  20. degree — an amount
  21. cold — not warm
  22. nail — on a finger
  23. bat — in an idiom
  24. nail — for a hammer

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