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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: game · tear · wind · drill · roll · mate · ground · chest

  1. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  2. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  3. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  4. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  5. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  6. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  7. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  8. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  9. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  10. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  11. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  12. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  13. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  14. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  15. We're on a ________________ here.
  16. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  17. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  18. There's no middle ________________.
  19. Have you found your soul ________________?
  20. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  21. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  22. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  23. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  24. That was a fun ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. chest — of your body
  3. drill — the tool
  4. wind — to turn a key
  5. ground — crushed
  6. drill — a practice
  7. chest — a box
  8. wind — moving air
  9. ground — the earth
  10. mate — to breed
  11. tear — from crying
  12. chest — of your body
  13. wind — moving air
  14. roll — a list
  15. roll — on a roll
  16. mate — a friend
  17. tear — to rip
  18. ground — a position
  19. mate — a partner
  20. drill — army training
  21. game — a kind of play
  22. roll — a cake
  23. game — wild animals
  24. game — a match

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