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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. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  2. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  3. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  4. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  7. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  10. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  11. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  12. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  13. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  14. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  15. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  18. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  19. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  22. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  23. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  24. A ________________ is just a dried plum.

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

Answer key

  1. drill — army training
  2. hand — part of the body
  3. snap — to speak sharply
  4. capital — money
  5. cold — not warm
  6. prune — to trim
  7. foot — part of the body
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. hand — help
  10. foot — a measure
  11. snap — to snap out of it
  12. row — a line
  13. drill — a practice
  14. snap — to click
  15. prune — to trim
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. foot — the bottom
  18. capital — a city
  19. row — a quarrel
  20. cold — an illness
  21. row — to paddle
  22. hand — in cards
  23. drill — the tool
  24. prune — the fruit

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