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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: race · wax · squash · spring · cold · drill · bore · club

  1. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  2. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  3. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  4. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  7. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  8. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  9. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  10. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  11. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  12. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  13. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  16. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  17. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  18. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  19. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  20. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  21. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  22. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — to crush
  2. club — for golf
  3. race — a contest
  4. drill — the tool
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. bore — gave birth
  7. wax — in the ear
  8. wax — for sculpting
  9. drill — army training
  10. club — a group
  11. squash — the sport
  12. bore — to drill
  13. race — the arms race
  14. cold — an illness
  15. spring — the season
  16. race — humankind
  17. spring — a coil
  18. club — for dancing
  19. wax — to grow
  20. bore — to tire
  21. spring — of water
  22. drill — a practice
  23. cold — not warm
  24. squash — the vegetable

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