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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: straw · drill · row · spring · current · wound · mate · scale

  1. Have you found your soul ________________?
  2. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  3. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  4. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  5. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  6. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  7. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  8. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  9. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  10. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  11. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  12. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  13. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  14. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  15. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  18. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  19. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  20. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  21. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  22. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  23. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  24. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.

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

Answer key

  1. mate — a partner
  2. drill — army training
  3. row — a line
  4. current — happening now
  5. drill — a practice
  6. mate — to breed
  7. current — electric
  8. scale — in music
  9. row — a quarrel
  10. wound — an injury
  11. drill — the tool
  12. scale — size or range
  13. wound — an injury
  14. row — to paddle
  15. mate — a friend
  16. spring — a coil
  17. spring — the season
  18. wound — past of 'wind'
  19. straw — to clutch at straws
  20. current — of water
  21. straw — dry grass
  22. straw — a straw man
  23. spring — of water
  24. scale — for weighing

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