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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: land · rush · drill · clip · mug · key · cold · pound

  1. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  2. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  3. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  6. When are we going to ________________?
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  9. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  10. That must've been a ________________.
  11. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  12. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  13. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  14. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  15. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  16. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  17. Where did you ________________ them?
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. This piece is in a major ________________.
  24. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.

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

Answer key

  1. drill — the tool
  2. drill — a practice
  3. key — for a lock
  4. clip — to cut
  5. pound — for dogs
  6. land — to come down
  7. clip — for paper
  8. land — ground
  9. rush — to hurry
  10. rush — a thrill
  11. mug — a cup
  12. pound — to hit hard
  13. key — the most important part
  14. rush — hurry
  15. pound — a weight
  16. mug — a face
  17. mug — to rob
  18. cold — not warm
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. land — a country
  21. clip — a video
  22. cold — an illness
  23. key — in music
  24. drill — army training

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