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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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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: roll · cold · hand · nail · court · press · drill · squash

  1. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. The ________________ went through the wall.
  5. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  6. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  7. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  8. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  9. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  10. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  11. Did you ________________ the button?
  12. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  13. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  14. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  15. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  16. The ball is in your ________________.
  17. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  18. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  19. We're on a ________________ here.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  22. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  23. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  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. cold — an illness
  2. nail — for a hammer
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. nail — for a hammer
  5. squash — to crush
  6. court — of law
  7. drill — a practice
  8. press — a publisher
  9. roll — a cake
  10. hand — in cards
  11. press — to push
  12. hand — part of the body
  13. drill — army training
  14. nail — on a finger
  15. squash — the sport
  16. court — for sport
  17. roll — a list
  18. hand — help
  19. roll — on a roll
  20. cold — not warm
  21. press — newspapers
  22. court — of a king
  23. squash — the vegetable
  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