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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: dip · mine · net · cold · kid · straw · press · drill

  1. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  2. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  5. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  6. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  7. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  8. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  9. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  10. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  11. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  12. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  13. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  14. Did you ________________ the button?
  15. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  16. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  17. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  18. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  19. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  20. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  21. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.

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

Answer key

  1. net — for catching
  2. net — after costs
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. dip — to dunk
  5. drill — a practice
  6. straw — dry grass
  7. mine — an explosive
  8. straw — a straw man
  9. dip — to sink
  10. net — in sport
  11. mine — belonging to me
  12. drill — army training
  13. mine — for digging
  14. press — to push
  15. straw — to clutch at straws
  16. drill — the tool
  17. press — a publisher
  18. press — newspapers
  19. dip — a sauce
  20. kid — child
  21. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  22. cold — not warm
  23. cold — an illness
  24. kid — to tease

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