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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 · cold · band · field · deal · squash · foot · straw

  1. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  2. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  3. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  10. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  11. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  12. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  13. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  14. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  15. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  16. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  17. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  18. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  19. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  20. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  21. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  22. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. We had a fire ________________ at school today.

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

Answer key

  1. drill — the tool
  2. field — for sport
  3. straw — dry grass
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. field — a subject
  6. band — a rubber band
  7. cold — an illness
  8. field — farmland
  9. deal — to handle
  10. foot — part of the body
  11. foot — a measure
  12. squash — the sport
  13. straw — a straw man
  14. band — a ring
  15. squash — the vegetable
  16. deal — an agreement
  17. band — a music group
  18. squash — to crush
  19. drill — army training
  20. straw — to clutch at straws
  21. foot — the bottom
  22. deal — a big deal
  23. cold — not warm
  24. drill — a practice

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