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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: lean · drill · bat · hand · kick · row · wind · land

  1. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  2. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  3. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  4. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  5. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  6. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  7. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  8. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  9. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  10. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  11. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  12. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  13. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  14. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  15. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  16. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  17. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  19. When are we going to ________________?
  20. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  21. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  24. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — the animal
  2. lean — to bend
  3. land — ground
  4. drill — a practice
  5. lean — to rest against
  6. wind — to turn a key
  7. kick — a thrill
  8. drill — the tool
  9. hand — in cards
  10. row — to paddle
  11. land — a country
  12. kick — with a leg
  13. row — a line
  14. drill — army training
  15. kick — in football
  16. wind — moving air
  17. hand — help
  18. bat — in an idiom
  19. land — to come down
  20. row — a quarrel
  21. hand — part of the body
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. lean — thin
  24. wind — moving air

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