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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. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  3. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  4. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  5. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  6. The ________________ market has crashed.
  7. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  8. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  9. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  10. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  11. That was a fun ________________.
  12. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  13. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  17. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  18. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  19. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  20. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  21. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  22. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  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. trunk — of a car
  3. branch — of a bank
  4. lie — an untruth
  5. game — wild animals
  6. stock — shares
  7. lie — an untruth
  8. game — a kind of play
  9. branch — a division
  10. stock — a soup base
  11. game — a match
  12. stock — goods
  13. staff — employees
  14. cold — not warm
  15. cold — an illness
  16. staff — employees
  17. drill — a practice
  18. lie — to recline
  19. staff — a stick
  20. branch — of a tree
  21. trunk — of a tree
  22. trunk — of an elephant
  23. cold — the Cold War
  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