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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: wake · land · charge · firm · drill · kid · tear · game

  1. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  2. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  3. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  4. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  5. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  6. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  7. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  8. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  9. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  10. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  11. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  12. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  13. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  14. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  15. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  16. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  17. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  18. When are we going to ________________?
  19. The tickets are free of ________________.
  20. That was a fun ________________.
  21. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  22. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  23. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  24. We had a fire ________________ at school today.

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

Answer key

  1. firm — steady
  2. tear — from crying
  3. tear — from crying
  4. game — a kind of play
  5. firm — a company
  6. kid — to tease
  7. land — ground
  8. firm — decided
  9. tear — to rip
  10. drill — army training
  11. game — wild animals
  12. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  13. wake — before a funeral
  14. drill — the tool
  15. charge — in control
  16. kid — child
  17. charge — electricity
  18. land — to come down
  19. charge — a price
  20. game — a match
  21. wake — a trail
  22. wake — to stop sleeping
  23. land — a country
  24. drill — a practice

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