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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: squash · rule · ground · capital · cold · prune · mouse · drill

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. There's no middle ________________.
  3. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  4. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  7. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  8. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  9. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  10. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  11. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  12. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  13. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  14. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  18. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  19. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  20. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  21. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  22. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  23. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  24. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. ground — a position
  3. mouse — for a computer
  4. squash — the sport
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. rule — government
  7. capital — money
  8. prune — to trim
  9. mouse — the animal
  10. squash — to crush
  11. prune — to trim
  12. ground — the earth
  13. rule — to rule out
  14. mouse — the animal
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. cold — an illness
  17. drill — the tool
  18. drill — a practice
  19. capital — a city
  20. ground — crushed
  21. rule — a law
  22. prune — the fruit
  23. squash — the vegetable
  24. drill — army training

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