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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 · straw · nail · pop · chest · row · present · rule

  1. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  2. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  3. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  4. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  5. We're almost out of ________________.
  6. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  7. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  8. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  9. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  10. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  11. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  12. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  13. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  14. You don't need to ________________ round.
  15. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  16. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  17. The ________________ went through the wall.
  18. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  19. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  20. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  21. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  22. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  23. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  24. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.

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

Answer key

  1. present — a gift
  2. rule — government
  3. rule — a law
  4. drill — the tool
  5. pop — soda
  6. drill — a practice
  7. nail — for a hammer
  8. chest — of your body
  9. nail — on a finger
  10. row — to paddle
  11. pop — music
  12. rule — to rule out
  13. present — the time now
  14. pop — to visit
  15. row — a line
  16. chest — of your body
  17. nail — for a hammer
  18. straw — dry grass
  19. present — there
  20. straw — to clutch at straws
  21. row — a quarrel
  22. drill — army training
  23. chest — a box
  24. straw — a straw man

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