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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: chip · hand · last · kid · spring · cap · fan · drill

  1. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  2. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  4. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  5. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  6. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  7. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  10. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  11. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  12. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  15. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  16. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  17. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  18. False peace will not ________________.
  19. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  20. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  21. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  22. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  23. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  24. The polar ice ________________ is melting.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — of water
  2. last — final
  3. spring — the season
  4. chip — for betting
  5. hand — part of the body
  6. fan — to cool the air
  7. drill — army training
  8. kid — to tease
  9. spring — a coil
  10. cap — a lid
  11. hand — in cards
  12. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  13. kid — child
  14. last — finally
  15. cap — a hat
  16. chip — to eat
  17. drill — the tool
  18. last — to go on
  19. fan — a supporter
  20. drill — a practice
  21. fan — a supporter
  22. chip — in a computer
  23. hand — help
  24. cap — of ice

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