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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. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  2. Where did you ________________ them?
  3. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  4. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  5. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  6. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  12. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  13. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  14. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  15. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  16. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  17. The ________________ went through the wall.
  18. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  21. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  22. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. band — a music group
  2. mug — to rob
  3. band — a ring
  4. drill — the tool
  5. bore — to drill
  6. chip — to eat
  7. cold — not warm
  8. band — a rubber band
  9. cold — an illness
  10. degree — from a university
  11. mug — a face
  12. nail — for a hammer
  13. bore — to tire
  14. nail — on a finger
  15. drill — army training
  16. chip — for betting
  17. nail — for a hammer
  18. drill — a practice
  19. degree — temperature
  20. mug — a cup
  21. chip — in a computer
  22. bore — gave birth
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. degree — an amount

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