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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 116 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: fall · mine · straw · ground · drill · racket · wound · chair

  1. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  2. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  3. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  4. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  5. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  6. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  7. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  8. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  9. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  10. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  11. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  12. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  13. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  14. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  15. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  16. There's no middle ________________.
  17. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  18. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  19. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  20. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  21. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  22. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  23. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  24. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.

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

Answer key

  1. racket — for tennis
  2. ground — crushed
  3. mine — an explosive
  4. racket — for tennis
  5. chair — a leader
  6. wound — past of 'wind'
  7. mine — for digging
  8. drill — army training
  9. racket — a loud noise
  10. fall — to drop
  11. fall — to drop
  12. ground — the earth
  13. drill — a practice
  14. drill — the tool
  15. chair — a professorship
  16. ground — a position
  17. fall — the season
  18. straw — to clutch at straws
  19. wound — an injury
  20. straw — a straw man
  21. straw — dry grass
  22. chair — to sit on
  23. wound — an injury
  24. mine — belonging to me

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