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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. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  3. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  4. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  5. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  6. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  7. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  8. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  9. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  10. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  11. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  12. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  13. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  14. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  15. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  16. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  17. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  18. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  19. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  20. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  21. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  22. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  23. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  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. rule — a law
  3. fall — to drop
  4. squash — the sport
  5. rule — to rule out
  6. row — to paddle
  7. fall — to drop
  8. hand — help
  9. hand — part of the body
  10. fall — the season
  11. squash — to crush
  12. drill — army training
  13. squash — the vegetable
  14. wake — before a funeral
  15. wake — a trail
  16. tear — from crying
  17. rule — government
  18. drill — a practice
  19. tear — from crying
  20. row — a quarrel
  21. row — a line
  22. tear — to rip
  23. wake — to stop sleeping
  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