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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: kick · land · cold · wind · bat · wave · drill · firm

  1. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  2. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  5. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  6. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  7. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  8. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  9. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  10. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  11. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  12. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  15. When are we going to ________________?
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  18. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  19. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  23. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — to turn a key
  2. drill — army training
  3. cold — not warm
  4. firm — decided
  5. wind — moving air
  6. firm — steady
  7. land — ground
  8. drill — the tool
  9. wave — with your hand
  10. kick — with a leg
  11. firm — a company
  12. wind — moving air
  13. cold — an illness
  14. drill — a practice
  15. land — to come down
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. kick — a thrill
  18. land — a country
  19. kick — in football
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. wave — a sudden rise
  23. wave — of the sea
  24. bat — the animal

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