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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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  2. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  3. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  4. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  5. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  6. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  7. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  8. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  9. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  10. Have you met the new head ________________?
  11. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  16. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  17. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  18. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  19. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  20. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  23. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  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. coach — a trainer
  2. mine — an explosive
  3. kid — to tease
  4. coach — pulled by horses
  5. mine — for digging
  6. dip — to dunk
  7. branch — a division
  8. band — a music group
  9. dip — to sink
  10. coach — a trainer
  11. dip — a sauce
  12. field — a subject
  13. band — a rubber band
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. field — farmland
  16. band — a ring
  17. drill — a practice
  18. branch — of a bank
  19. kid — child
  20. drill — the tool
  21. field — for sport
  22. mine — belonging to me
  23. branch — of a tree
  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