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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: drill · chest · pop · kid · rule · cold · firm · prune

  1. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  2. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  3. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  4. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  5. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  6. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  9. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  10. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  11. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. We're almost out of ________________.
  14. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  15. You don't need to ________________ round.
  16. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  17. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  20. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  21. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  22. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  23. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  24. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.

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

Answer key

  1. drill — a practice
  2. rule — government
  3. drill — the tool
  4. prune — to trim
  5. chest — of your body
  6. prune — to trim
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. rule — to rule out
  9. chest — of your body
  10. firm — decided
  11. kid — to tease
  12. cold — not warm
  13. pop — soda
  14. chest — a box
  15. pop — to visit
  16. pop — music
  17. prune — the fruit
  18. cold — an illness
  19. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  20. kid — child
  21. firm — steady
  22. firm — a company
  23. drill — army training
  24. rule — a law

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