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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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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: bear · drill · file · stem · ground · mate · hand · band

  1. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  2. Have you found your soul ________________?
  3. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  4. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  5. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  6. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  7. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  8. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  9. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  10. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  11. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  12. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  13. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  14. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  15. There's no middle ________________.
  16. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  17. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  19. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  20. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  21. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  22. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  23. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  24. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — the earth
  2. mate — a partner
  3. mate — a friend
  4. drill — a practice
  5. drill — army training
  6. bear — to put up with
  7. file — a document
  8. ground — crushed
  9. hand — help
  10. stem — of a plant
  11. stem — to come from
  12. band — a rubber band
  13. bear — the animal
  14. stem — a stem cell
  15. ground — a position
  16. mate — to breed
  17. file — a tool
  18. file — a line of people
  19. band — a music group
  20. band — a ring
  21. hand — part of the body
  22. hand — in cards
  23. bear — the animal
  24. drill — the tool

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