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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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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: bowl · cold · clip · bat · stand · drill · lean · root

  1. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  6. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  7. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  12. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  13. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  14. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  15. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  16. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  17. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  20. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. I can't ________________ this cold.
  23. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — to rest against
  2. cold — not warm
  3. drill — a practice
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. bat — for baseball
  6. root — of a word
  7. drill — the tool
  8. clip — a video
  9. lean — to bend
  10. clip — to cut
  11. bowl — to roll
  12. stand — on your feet
  13. drill — army training
  14. lean — thin
  15. bat — the animal
  16. root — of a plant
  17. bowl — a football final
  18. clip — for paper
  19. bowl — a dish
  20. root — the cause
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. stand — to bear
  23. stand — for spectators
  24. cold — an illness

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