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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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Word bank
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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: wind · drill · squash · lash · hand · rule · stem · game

  1. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  2. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  3. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  4. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  5. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  6. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  7. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  8. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  9. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  10. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  11. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  12. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  13. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  14. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  15. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  16. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  17. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  18. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  19. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  20. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  21. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  22. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  23. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  24. That was a fun ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — to crush
  2. squash — the sport
  3. hand — help
  4. lash — to lash out
  5. hand — part of the body
  6. rule — a law
  7. game — wild animals
  8. wind — moving air
  9. drill — a practice
  10. stem — of a plant
  11. squash — the vegetable
  12. rule — government
  13. lash — a whip stroke
  14. wind — moving air
  15. rule — to rule out
  16. hand — in cards
  17. stem — to come from
  18. drill — army training
  19. game — a kind of play
  20. wind — to turn a key
  21. drill — the tool
  22. lash — an eyelash
  23. stem — a stem cell
  24. game — a match

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