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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.

Words on the sheet
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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: sharp · bat · cold · march · wound · drill · rest · saw

  1. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  4. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  5. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  6. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  7. He works in a ________________ mill.
  8. It's one o'clock ________________.
  9. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  12. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  13. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. She's very handy with a ________________.
  16. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  17. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  18. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  19. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  20. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. We had a fire ________________ at school today.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — past of 'wind'
  2. bat — the animal
  3. rest — what's left
  4. drill — the tool
  5. march — the month
  6. rest — a break
  7. saw — the tool
  8. sharp — exactly
  9. wound — an injury
  10. cold — not warm
  11. saw — past of 'see'
  12. sharp — clever
  13. rest — what's left
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. saw — the tool
  16. wound — an injury
  17. drill — army training
  18. sharp — with an edge
  19. march — music
  20. bat — in an idiom
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. march — the month
  23. cold — an illness
  24. drill — a practice

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