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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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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: rock · cold · chest · rule · drill · row · deal · spring

  1. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  2. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  3. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  4. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  5. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  6. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  9. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  10. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  11. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  12. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  13. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  14. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  17. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  18. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  21. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  22. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  23. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  24. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.

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

Answer key

  1. drill — the tool
  2. chest — of your body
  3. rule — a law
  4. spring — the season
  5. row — a quarrel
  6. rule — government
  7. cold — an illness
  8. row — a line
  9. rule — to rule out
  10. rock — music
  11. rock — to move gently
  12. chest — of your body
  13. deal — an agreement
  14. row — to paddle
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. chest — a box
  17. spring — of water
  18. drill — a practice
  19. cold — not warm
  20. drill — army training
  21. rock — a stone
  22. deal — a big deal
  23. deal — to handle
  24. spring — a coil

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