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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: drill · mine · straw · fork · rush · cold · can · game

  1. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  2. That must've been a ________________.
  3. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  6. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  7. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  8. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  9. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  10. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  11. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  12. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  15. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  16. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  17. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  18. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. That was a fun ________________.
  21. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  22. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  23. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  24. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — a straw man
  2. rush — a thrill
  3. drill — army training
  4. cold — not warm
  5. mine — belonging to me
  6. fork — to eat with
  7. game — a kind of play
  8. rush — hurry
  9. can — to be able to
  10. mine — an explosive
  11. mine — for digging
  12. can — a tin
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. can — a tin
  15. fork — a garden tool
  16. rush — to hurry
  17. fork — in a road
  18. straw — to clutch at straws
  19. cold — an illness
  20. game — a match
  21. drill — a practice
  22. drill — the tool
  23. straw — dry grass
  24. game — wild animals

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