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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.

Words on the sheet
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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: face · straw · drill · hand · wound · march · cabinet · cold

  1. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  2. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  3. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  4. What do you think of the new ________________?
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  7. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  8. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  9. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  10. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  11. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  14. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  15. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  16. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  17. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  18. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  19. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  20. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  21. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  22. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.

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

Answer key

  1. drill — army training
  2. wound — an injury
  3. drill — a practice
  4. cabinet — ministers
  5. cold — not warm
  6. face — to confront
  7. wound — an injury
  8. march — music
  9. march — the month
  10. face — part of the head
  11. cabinet — ministers
  12. cold — an illness
  13. straw — dry grass
  14. hand — part of the body
  15. hand — in cards
  16. straw — to clutch at straws
  17. march — the month
  18. cabinet — a cupboard
  19. wound — past of 'wind'
  20. hand — help
  21. drill — the tool
  22. straw — a straw man
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. face — to point toward

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