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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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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: wound · kick · pop · rule · drill · saw · pound · cold

  1. We're almost out of ________________.
  2. You don't need to ________________ round.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  5. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  6. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  7. He works in a ________________ mill.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  10. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  11. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  12. She's very handy with a ________________.
  13. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  16. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  17. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  18. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  19. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  20. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  21. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  22. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  23. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  24. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — soda
  2. pop — to visit
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. drill — the tool
  5. rule — to rule out
  6. pop — music
  7. saw — the tool
  8. cold — an illness
  9. rule — government
  10. kick — a thrill
  11. pound — to hit hard
  12. saw — the tool
  13. wound — an injury
  14. cold — not warm
  15. kick — with a leg
  16. drill — a practice
  17. kick — in football
  18. pound — a weight
  19. saw — past of 'see'
  20. wound — an injury
  21. rule — a law
  22. drill — army training
  23. wound — past of 'wind'
  24. pound — for dogs

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