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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: drill · clip · wave · cold · root · bay · hand · pit

  1. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  2. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  3. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  4. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  5. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  6. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  9. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  12. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  13. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. My mare is ________________ in color.
  16. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  19. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  23. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  24. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.

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

Answer key

  1. bay — a part of the sea
  2. drill — a practice
  3. root — of a word
  4. hand — in cards
  5. drill — army training
  6. hand — part of the body
  7. clip — to cut
  8. drill — the tool
  9. pit — a hole
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. hand — help
  12. wave — of the sea
  13. pit — a fruit stone
  14. clip — for paper
  15. bay — a horse colour
  16. wave — a sudden rise
  17. cold — not warm
  18. wave — with your hand
  19. bay — to keep at bay
  20. cold — an illness
  21. clip — a video
  22. root — of a plant
  23. pit — in a race
  24. root — the cause

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