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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: cold · march · pound · rash · capital · row · coach · drill

  1. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  2. Have you met the new head ________________?
  3. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  6. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  7. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  10. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  13. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  14. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  15. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  16. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  17. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  18. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  21. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  22. Don't do anything ________________.
  23. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  24. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.

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

Answer key

  1. drill — the tool
  2. coach — a trainer
  3. coach — pulled by horses
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. row — a line
  6. drill — a practice
  7. capital — money
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. rash — on the skin
  10. row — to paddle
  11. cold — an illness
  12. pound — for dogs
  13. row — a quarrel
  14. capital — a city
  15. drill — army training
  16. march — the month
  17. rash — a series
  18. march — music
  19. cold — not warm
  20. pound — to hit hard
  21. coach — a trainer
  22. rash — hasty
  23. march — the month
  24. pound — a weight

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