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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: hand · drill · calf · wound · pop · cold · mine · file

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  3. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  4. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  5. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  8. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  9. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  10. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  11. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  12. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  13. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  14. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  15. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  16. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  17. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  18. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. We're almost out of ________________.
  21. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  22. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  23. You don't need to ________________ round.
  24. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. drill — army training
  3. file — a document
  4. hand — help
  5. file — a tool
  6. cold — an illness
  7. wound — an injury
  8. drill — the tool
  9. file — a line of people
  10. wound — an injury
  11. hand — part of the body
  12. hand — in cards
  13. drill — a practice
  14. calf — of the leg
  15. mine — for digging
  16. wound — past of 'wind'
  17. pop — music
  18. mine — an explosive
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. pop — soda
  21. calf — a young animal
  22. calf — a young animal
  23. pop — to visit
  24. mine — belonging to me

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