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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 band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  5. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  6. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  7. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  8. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  9. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  12. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  13. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  14. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  17. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  18. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  19. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  20. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  21. Have you met the new head ________________?
  22. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  23. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  24. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?

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

Answer key

  1. drill — the tool
  2. march — music
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. chair — a leader
  5. march — the month
  6. chair — to sit on
  7. drill — army training
  8. straw — a straw man
  9. row — a line
  10. cold — not warm
  11. mouse — the animal
  12. row — to paddle
  13. row — a quarrel
  14. chair — a professorship
  15. cold — an illness
  16. drill — a practice
  17. march — the month
  18. mouse — the animal
  19. mouse — for a computer
  20. straw — dry grass
  21. coach — a trainer
  22. straw — to clutch at straws
  23. coach — a trainer
  24. coach — pulled by horses

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