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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: spell · land · drill · cold · kid · stick · present · spring

  1. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  2. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  3. How do you ________________ your surname?
  4. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  5. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  6. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  9. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  10. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  11. When are we going to ________________?
  12. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  13. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  14. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  15. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  16. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  17. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  18. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  21. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. drill — army training
  2. present — there
  3. spell — letters
  4. present — a gift
  5. stick — a piece of wood
  6. spring — the season
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  9. kid — child
  10. spell — a short time
  11. land — to come down
  12. spring — of water
  13. stick — to attach or keep to
  14. present — the time now
  15. drill — the tool
  16. land — ground
  17. stick — a piece of wood
  18. spell — magic
  19. cold — not warm
  20. drill — a practice
  21. kid — to tease
  22. land — a country
  23. spring — a coil
  24. cold — an illness

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