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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 120 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: fall · pit · cold · drill · cap · bank · hand · content

  1. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  2. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  3. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  4. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  5. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  6. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  7. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  8. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  9. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  10. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  11. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  15. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  16. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  17. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  18. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  19. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  22. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  23. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  24. The polar ice ________________ is melting.

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

Answer key

  1. pit — a hole
  2. cap — a hat
  3. fall — the season
  4. hand — help
  5. drill — a practice
  6. bank — for money
  7. pit — in a race
  8. cap — a lid
  9. hand — in cards
  10. drill — army training
  11. content — the amount
  12. cold — an illness
  13. cold — not warm
  14. hand — part of the body
  15. fall — to drop
  16. content — happy
  17. bank — of a river
  18. bank — for money
  19. drill — the tool
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. pit — a fruit stone
  22. content — videos and posts
  23. fall — to drop
  24. cap — of ice

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