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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: race · bound · court · perch · cold · cabinet · drill · nail

  1. That was ________________ to happen.
  2. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  5. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  6. The ball is in your ________________.
  7. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  8. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. What do you think of the new ________________?
  11. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  12. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  13. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  14. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  15. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  16. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  17. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  18. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  19. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  20. The ________________ went through the wall.
  21. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  24. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.

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

Answer key

  1. bound — certain
  2. perch — the fish
  3. cold — not warm
  4. perch — for a bird
  5. bound — obliged
  6. court — for sport
  7. nail — for a hammer
  8. court — of law
  9. cold — an illness
  10. cabinet — ministers
  11. court — of a king
  12. race — the arms race
  13. perch — for a bird
  14. cabinet — ministers
  15. nail — on a finger
  16. drill — a practice
  17. cabinet — a cupboard
  18. bound — tied together
  19. race — a contest
  20. nail — for a hammer
  21. drill — the tool
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. race — humankind
  24. drill — army training

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