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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: chest · drill · cabinet · wound · wake · cap · hand · mine

  1. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  2. What do you think of the new ________________?
  3. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  4. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  5. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  6. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  7. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  8. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  9. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  10. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  11. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  12. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  13. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  14. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  15. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  16. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  17. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  18. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  19. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  20. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  21. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  22. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  23. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  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 — the tool
  2. cabinet — ministers
  3. chest — a box
  4. wake — a trail
  5. cap — a hat
  6. hand — help
  7. mine — for digging
  8. wound — an injury
  9. chest — of your body
  10. mine — belonging to me
  11. hand — in cards
  12. drill — a practice
  13. chest — of your body
  14. mine — an explosive
  15. cap — a lid
  16. cap — of ice
  17. wound — an injury
  18. cabinet — a cupboard
  19. wake — to stop sleeping
  20. wake — before a funeral
  21. hand — part of the body
  22. wound — past of 'wind'
  23. cabinet — ministers
  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