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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: ruler · pitcher · cold · march · hand · chair · drill · wind

  1. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  2. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  3. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  4. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  5. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  6. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  7. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  8. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  9. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  10. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  11. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  12. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  13. He is an ace ________________.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  20. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  21. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  24. The people resisted their cruel ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a leader
  2. wind — to turn a key
  3. ruler — for measuring
  4. drill — army training
  5. drill — a practice
  6. pitcher — a jug
  7. wind — moving air
  8. hand — help
  9. drill — the tool
  10. march — the month
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. march — music
  13. pitcher — in baseball
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. march — the month
  16. cold — an illness
  17. ruler — for measuring
  18. hand — in cards
  19. chair — a professorship
  20. hand — part of the body
  21. chair — to sit on
  22. cold — not warm
  23. wind — moving air
  24. ruler — a monarch

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