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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: land · clip · drill · bore · capital · pop · chair · march

  1. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  2. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  3. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  4. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  5. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  6. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  7. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  8. We're almost out of ________________.
  9. You don't need to ________________ round.
  10. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  11. When are we going to ________________?
  12. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  13. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  14. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  15. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  20. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  21. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  24. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.

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

Answer key

  1. drill — a practice
  2. land — a country
  3. march — music
  4. chair — to sit on
  5. march — the month
  6. chair — a leader
  7. pop — music
  8. pop — soda
  9. pop — to visit
  10. capital — money
  11. land — to come down
  12. drill — the tool
  13. capital — a city
  14. bore — to drill
  15. land — ground
  16. clip — to cut
  17. bore — gave birth
  18. clip — for paper
  19. chair — a professorship
  20. march — the month
  21. bore — to tire
  22. clip — a video
  23. capital — a big letter
  24. drill — army training

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