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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: drill · bark · net · wound · cold · rock · scale · band

  1. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  2. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  3. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  4. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  5. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  8. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  9. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  10. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  11. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  12. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  13. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  14. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  15. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  16. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  17. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  20. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  21. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  22. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  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. rock — music
  3. band — a music group
  4. scale — for weighing
  5. wound — past of 'wind'
  6. cold — not warm
  7. net — for catching
  8. net — after costs
  9. net — in sport
  10. bark — to shout
  11. bark — a dog's sound
  12. rock — to move gently
  13. band — a rubber band
  14. band — a ring
  15. scale — size or range
  16. wound — an injury
  17. scale — in music
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. drill — a practice
  20. rock — a stone
  21. bark — of a tree
  22. wound — an injury
  23. cold — an illness
  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