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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: drill · fine · cold · land · spring · squash · pitch · net

  1. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. When are we going to ________________?
  3. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  4. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  5. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  6. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  7. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  8. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  9. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  10. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  11. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  12. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  13. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  16. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  17. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  20. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  21. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  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. land — ground
  2. land — to come down
  3. squash — to crush
  4. fine — all right
  5. fine — a penalty
  6. spring — of water
  7. fine — high quality
  8. net — for catching
  9. net — in sport
  10. spring — the season
  11. drill — the tool
  12. pitch — a sports field
  13. spring — a coil
  14. cold — not warm
  15. squash — the sport
  16. drill — a practice
  17. pitch — a sales talk
  18. cold — an illness
  19. land — a country
  20. squash — the vegetable
  21. net — after costs
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. pitch — completely
  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