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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: charge · wake · drill · land · mine · last · band · tear

  1. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  2. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  3. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  4. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  5. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  6. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  7. False peace will not ________________.
  8. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  9. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  10. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  11. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  12. The tickets are free of ________________.
  13. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  14. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  15. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  16. When are we going to ________________?
  17. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  18. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  19. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  20. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  21. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  22. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  23. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  24. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.

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

Answer key

  1. drill — the tool
  2. mine — for digging
  3. charge — in control
  4. tear — from crying
  5. land — a country
  6. drill — a practice
  7. last — to go on
  8. charge — electricity
  9. band — a ring
  10. land — ground
  11. band — a rubber band
  12. charge — a price
  13. drill — army training
  14. wake — before a funeral
  15. wake — to stop sleeping
  16. land — to come down
  17. last — finally
  18. wake — a trail
  19. tear — to rip
  20. tear — from crying
  21. band — a music group
  22. mine — an explosive
  23. last — final
  24. mine — belonging to me

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