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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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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: row · arm · cold · mine · bore · drill · capital · lash

  1. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  2. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  3. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  4. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  7. My father caught me by the ________________.
  8. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  9. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  10. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  14. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  15. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  16. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  17. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  18. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  21. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  22. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  23. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  24. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.

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

Answer key

  1. bore — to tire
  2. capital — money
  3. bore — gave birth
  4. drill — a practice
  5. cold — an illness
  6. row — to paddle
  7. arm — part of the body
  8. drill — the tool
  9. drill — army training
  10. row — a quarrel
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. cold — not warm
  13. arm — a part of something
  14. lash — a whip stroke
  15. capital — a big letter
  16. mine — for digging
  17. arm — part of the body
  18. row — a line
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. capital — a city
  21. lash — to lash out
  22. mine — belonging to me
  23. lash — an eyelash
  24. bore — to drill

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