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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 116 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: drill · bore · file · pound · game · coach · rock · mine

  1. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  2. Have you met the new head ________________?
  3. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  4. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  5. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  6. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  7. That was a fun ________________.
  8. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  9. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  10. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  11. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  12. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  13. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  14. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  15. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  16. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  17. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  18. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  19. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  20. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  21. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  22. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  23. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  24. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — belonging to me
  2. coach — a trainer
  3. bore — gave birth
  4. rock — music
  5. rock — a stone
  6. mine — for digging
  7. game — a match
  8. pound — a weight
  9. coach — pulled by horses
  10. drill — army training
  11. drill — a practice
  12. file — a line of people
  13. pound — to hit hard
  14. bore — to drill
  15. game — a kind of play
  16. coach — a trainer
  17. rock — to move gently
  18. game — wild animals
  19. mine — an explosive
  20. pound — for dogs
  21. file — a tool
  22. bore — to tire
  23. drill — the tool
  24. file — a document

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