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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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468
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: drill · club · season · chest · hide · rash · land · wind

  1. When are we going to ________________?
  2. Did you ________________ the meat?
  3. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  4. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  5. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  6. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  7. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  8. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  9. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  10. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  11. Don't do anything ________________.
  12. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  13. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  14. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  15. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  16. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  17. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  18. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  19. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  20. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  21. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  24. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.

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

Answer key

  1. land — to come down
  2. season — to add flavour
  3. club — for golf
  4. chest — of your body
  5. rash — a series
  6. wind — moving air
  7. hide — to keep secret
  8. drill — army training
  9. chest — of your body
  10. wind — to turn a key
  11. rash — hasty
  12. drill — a practice
  13. club — for dancing
  14. hide — animal skin
  15. season — in sport
  16. hide — to keep secret
  17. wind — moving air
  18. season — of the year
  19. chest — a box
  20. drill — the tool
  21. rash — on the skin
  22. land — a country
  23. land — ground
  24. club — a group

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