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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.

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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 · nail · ball · bat · wind · bulb · field · cold

  1. I've got to change the light ________________.
  2. The ________________ went through the wall.
  3. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  4. The light ________________ burned out.
  5. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  10. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. The King held a masked ________________.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  16. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  17. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  18. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  23. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  24. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.

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

Answer key

  1. bulb — for light
  2. nail — for a hammer
  3. nail — for a hammer
  4. bulb — for light
  5. wind — to turn a key
  6. bat — the animal
  7. nail — on a finger
  8. field — farmland
  9. ball — a great time
  10. ball — a round shape
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. ball — a dance
  13. cold — not warm
  14. cold — an illness
  15. drill — the tool
  16. drill — a practice
  17. wind — moving air
  18. bulb — of a plant
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. drill — army training
  21. field — for sport
  22. wind — moving air
  23. bat — in an idiom
  24. field — a subject

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