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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: cold · cell · band · pitcher · saw · bank · drill · lie

  1. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  2. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  3. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  4. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  5. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  8. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  11. He is an ace ________________.
  12. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  13. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  14. He was locked up in a ________________.
  15. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  16. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  17. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  18. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  19. She's very handy with a ________________.
  20. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  21. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  24. He works in a ________________ mill.

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

Answer key

  1. lie — to recline
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. lie — an untruth
  4. cell — a phone
  5. saw — past of 'see'
  6. cold — an illness
  7. drill — a practice
  8. band — a music group
  9. cold — not warm
  10. band — a ring
  11. pitcher — in baseball
  12. bank — for money
  13. drill — the tool
  14. cell — in a prison
  15. bank — for money
  16. lie — an untruth
  17. cell — in biology
  18. band — a rubber band
  19. saw — the tool
  20. pitcher — a jug
  21. drill — army training
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. bank — of a river
  24. saw — 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