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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 from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: cold · drill · chip · stem · nail · tear

  1. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  3. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  4. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  5. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  6. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  7. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  8. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  9. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  10. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  13. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  14. The ________________ went through the wall.
  15. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  16. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. 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. cold — an illness
  2. tear — from crying
  3. nail — for a hammer
  4. tear — to rip
  5. chip — for betting
  6. chip — in a computer
  7. nail — on a finger
  8. stem — a stem cell
  9. drill — army training
  10. stem — to come from
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. chip — to eat
  13. tear — from crying
  14. nail — for a hammer
  15. stem — of a plant
  16. drill — the tool
  17. cold — not warm
  18. 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