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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. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  2. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  7. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  8. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  9. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  10. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  11. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  12. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  13. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  14. The ________________ went through the wall.
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  17. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  18. When are we going to ________________?
  19. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  20. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  21. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  22. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  23. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  24. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.

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

Answer key

  1. drill — the tool
  2. hand — part of the body
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. capital — a city
  5. hand — help
  6. drill — army training
  7. chest — of your body
  8. current — electric
  9. current — of water
  10. nail — on a finger
  11. chest — of your body
  12. hand — in cards
  13. mine — for digging
  14. nail — for a hammer
  15. capital — money
  16. land — ground
  17. mine — an explosive
  18. land — to come down
  19. land — a country
  20. chest — a box
  21. mine — belonging to me
  22. drill — a practice
  23. nail — for a hammer
  24. current — happening now

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