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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: chest · mark · mine · bat · spell · band · drill · cue

  1. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  2. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  3. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  4. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  5. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  6. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  7. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  8. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  9. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  10. How do you ________________ your surname?
  11. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  12. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  15. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  18. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  21. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  22. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  23. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  24. She got the top ________________ in the exam.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. cue — a signal
  3. drill — army training
  4. cue — a hint
  5. spell — a short time
  6. cue — for pool
  7. drill — the tool
  8. mark — a trace
  9. chest — a box
  10. spell — letters
  11. mine — for digging
  12. mark — to pay attention
  13. bat — the animal
  14. chest — of your body
  15. mine — belonging to me
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. band — a music group
  18. drill — a practice
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. band — a ring
  21. mine — an explosive
  22. spell — magic
  23. band — a rubber band
  24. mark — a grade

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