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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: nail · drill · pitcher · hide · cell · roll · chest · rule

  1. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  2. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  3. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  4. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  5. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  6. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  7. The ________________ went through the wall.
  8. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  9. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  12. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  13. We're on a ________________ here.
  14. He was locked up in a ________________.
  15. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  16. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  17. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  18. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  19. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  20. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  21. He is an ace ________________.
  22. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.

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

Answer key

  1. hide — to keep secret
  2. cell — a phone
  3. drill — army training
  4. nail — for a hammer
  5. chest — of your body
  6. pitcher — a jug
  7. nail — for a hammer
  8. roll — a cake
  9. pitcher — a jug
  10. chest — a box
  11. hide — animal skin
  12. rule — government
  13. roll — on a roll
  14. cell — in a prison
  15. roll — a list
  16. rule — a law
  17. drill — a practice
  18. rule — to rule out
  19. nail — on a finger
  20. hide — to keep secret
  21. pitcher — in baseball
  22. chest — of your body
  23. cell — in biology
  24. drill — the tool

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