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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: scale · clip · last · drill · bound · straw · row · bowl

  1. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  2. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  4. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  5. False peace will not ________________.
  6. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  9. That was ________________ to happen.
  10. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  11. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  14. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  15. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  16. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  17. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  18. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  19. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  22. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  23. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  24. At ________________, we arrived at the village.

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

Answer key

  1. drill — the tool
  2. last — final
  3. bowl — to roll
  4. row — a quarrel
  5. last — to go on
  6. bound — obliged
  7. clip — a video
  8. scale — for weighing
  9. bound — certain
  10. straw — to clutch at straws
  11. straw — a straw man
  12. clip — to cut
  13. bowl — a dish
  14. drill — army training
  15. bound — tied together
  16. row — a line
  17. bowl — a football final
  18. straw — dry grass
  19. row — to paddle
  20. clip — for paper
  21. drill — a practice
  22. scale — size or range
  23. scale — in music
  24. last — finally

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