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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: file · cold · bore · fall · mate · ball · drill · straw

  1. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  2. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  3. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  4. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  5. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  6. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  9. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  10. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  11. The King held a masked ________________.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  14. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  15. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  16. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  17. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  18. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  19. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  20. Have you found your soul ________________?
  21. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  24. The kitten curled into a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mate — to breed
  2. bore — to drill
  3. bore — to tire
  4. ball — a great time
  5. drill — a practice
  6. mate — a friend
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. bore — gave birth
  9. straw — to clutch at straws
  10. drill — the tool
  11. ball — a dance
  12. cold — an illness
  13. straw — a straw man
  14. file — a line of people
  15. fall — to drop
  16. file — a document
  17. straw — dry grass
  18. fall — to drop
  19. fall — the season
  20. mate — a partner
  21. drill — army training
  22. cold — not warm
  23. file — a tool
  24. ball — a round shape

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