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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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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: bat · kid · nail · chip · march · hand · pitcher · drill

  1. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  2. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  3. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. He is an ace ________________.
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  8. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  9. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  10. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  11. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  12. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  13. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  16. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  19. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  20. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  21. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  22. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  23. The ________________ went through the wall.
  24. Fill up this ________________ with water.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — part of the body
  2. chip — in a computer
  3. march — music
  4. bat — the animal
  5. pitcher — in baseball
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. drill — the tool
  8. march — the month
  9. drill — army training
  10. nail — for a hammer
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. nail — on a finger
  13. chip — for betting
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. hand — in cards
  16. march — the month
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. hand — help
  19. drill — a practice
  20. chip — to eat
  21. kid — child
  22. kid — to tease
  23. nail — for a hammer
  24. pitcher — a jug

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