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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 120 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: march · fall · bay · cold · bore · chest · nail · hand

  1. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  4. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  7. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  8. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  9. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  10. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  11. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  12. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  13. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  16. My mare is ________________ in color.
  17. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  20. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  21. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  22. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  23. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  24. The ________________ went through the wall.

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

Answer key

  1. bore — to tire
  2. cold — not warm
  3. hand — in cards
  4. fall — to drop
  5. hand — help
  6. hand — part of the body
  7. march — the month
  8. nail — for a hammer
  9. bay — a part of the sea
  10. fall — to drop
  11. march — the month
  12. bay — to keep at bay
  13. chest — a box
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. chest — of your body
  16. bay — a horse colour
  17. bore — gave birth
  18. cold — an illness
  19. march — music
  20. chest — of your body
  21. fall — the season
  22. bore — to drill
  23. nail — on a finger
  24. nail — for a hammer

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