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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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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: tear · last · perch · chest · row · mine · drill · nail

  1. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  2. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  3. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  4. False peace will not ________________.
  5. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  6. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  7. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  8. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  9. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  10. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  11. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  12. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  13. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  14. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  15. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  16. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  17. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  18. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  19. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  20. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  21. The ________________ went through the wall.
  22. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  23. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  24. We had a fire ________________ at school today.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. perch — for a bird
  3. row — a line
  4. last — to go on
  5. last — final
  6. drill — army training
  7. tear — from crying
  8. chest — of your body
  9. tear — to rip
  10. last — finally
  11. mine — belonging to me
  12. nail — for a hammer
  13. drill — the tool
  14. nail — on a finger
  15. perch — for a bird
  16. chest — of your body
  17. row — to paddle
  18. chest — a box
  19. mine — an explosive
  20. perch — the fish
  21. nail — for a hammer
  22. row — a quarrel
  23. mine — for digging
  24. drill — a practice

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