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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. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. Have you found your soul ________________?
  5. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  6. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  7. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  8. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. How do you ________________ your surname?
  12. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  13. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  16. He is an ace ________________.
  17. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  18. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  19. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  20. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  23. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  24. I got dealt a bad ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. drill — the tool
  2. bat — the animal
  3. bat — for baseball
  4. mate — a partner
  5. drill — a practice
  6. mate — to breed
  7. hand — part of the body
  8. spell — a short time
  9. cold — an illness
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. spell — letters
  12. pitcher — a jug
  13. mate — a friend
  14. cold — not warm
  15. rule — government
  16. pitcher — in baseball
  17. drill — army training
  18. pitcher — a jug
  19. spell — magic
  20. rule — to rule out
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. rule — a law
  23. hand — help
  24. hand — in cards

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