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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 116 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. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  2. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  3. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  4. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  9. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  10. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  11. David sat on the ________________.
  12. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. Have you met the new head ________________?
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  20. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.

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

Answer key

  1. fine — a penalty
  2. coach — a trainer
  3. coach — pulled by horses
  4. drill — army training
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. board — a committee
  7. clip — for paper
  8. drill — the tool
  9. board — to get on
  10. fine — all right
  11. swing — to play on
  12. board — a flat piece
  13. field — a subject
  14. drill — a practice
  15. clip — to cut
  16. coach — a trainer
  17. clip — a video
  18. cold — not warm
  19. fine — high quality
  20. swing — music
  21. field — for sport
  22. field — farmland
  23. cold — an illness
  24. swing — in golf

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