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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 116 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 was blown up by a land ________________.
  2. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  3. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  6. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  7. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  8. She's very handy with a ________________.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  11. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  12. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  13. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  14. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  15. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  16. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  17. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  18. He works in a ________________ mill.
  19. Have you met the new head ________________?
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  22. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  23. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  24. We had a fire ________________ at school today.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — an explosive
  2. straw — a straw man
  3. saw — past of 'see'
  4. cold — not warm
  5. coach — a trainer
  6. mine — for digging
  7. straw — dry grass
  8. saw — the tool
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. row — a quarrel
  11. row — to paddle
  12. bore — gave birth
  13. bore — to drill
  14. bore — to tire
  15. row — a line
  16. straw — to clutch at straws
  17. drill — army training
  18. saw — the tool
  19. coach — a trainer
  20. cold — an illness
  21. coach — pulled by horses
  22. mine — belonging to me
  23. drill — the tool
  24. drill — a practice

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