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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. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  2. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  3. False peace will not ________________.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  9. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  10. She's very handy with a ________________.
  11. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  12. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  13. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  14. He is an ace ________________.
  15. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  16. He works in a ________________ mill.
  17. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  18. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  19. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  20. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  21. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  22. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  23. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  24. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.

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

Answer key

  1. drill — a practice
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. last — to go on
  4. clip — to cut
  5. clip — a video
  6. squash — to crush
  7. clip — for paper
  8. row — a quarrel
  9. last — final
  10. saw — the tool
  11. drill — the tool
  12. drill — army training
  13. saw — past of 'see'
  14. pitcher — in baseball
  15. last — finally
  16. saw — the tool
  17. squash — the vegetable
  18. row — to paddle
  19. row — a line
  20. squash — the sport
  21. spring — of water
  22. spring — a coil
  23. spring — the season
  24. pitcher — a jug

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