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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 120 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: object · present · content · nail · bear · file · cold · drill

  1. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  3. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  4. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  7. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  8. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  9. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  10. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  11. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  12. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  13. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  14. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  17. The ________________ went through the wall.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  20. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  21. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  22. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  23. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  24. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. drill — a practice
  3. present — the time now
  4. bear — to put up with
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. nail — for a hammer
  7. content — videos and posts
  8. file — a document
  9. nail — on a finger
  10. object — to protest
  11. present — there
  12. object — an aim
  13. bear — the animal
  14. present — a gift
  15. cold — not warm
  16. bear — the animal
  17. nail — for a hammer
  18. cold — an illness
  19. drill — army training
  20. drill — the tool
  21. object — a thing
  22. content — the amount
  23. file — a tool
  24. file — a line of people

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