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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. Have you met the new head ________________?
  2. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  3. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  4. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  5. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  6. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  9. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  10. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  11. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  12. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  13. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  14. He is an ace ________________.
  15. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  16. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. There's no middle ________________.
  19. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  20. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  21. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  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. coach — pulled by horses
  3. drill — the tool
  4. pitcher — a jug
  5. fall — the season
  6. wake — a trail
  7. cold — not warm
  8. wake — before a funeral
  9. chair — a leader
  10. wake — to stop sleeping
  11. coach — a trainer
  12. drill — a practice
  13. fall — to drop
  14. pitcher — in baseball
  15. chair — a professorship
  16. chair — to sit on
  17. cold — an illness
  18. ground — a position
  19. fall — to drop
  20. ground — the earth
  21. pitcher — a jug
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. ground — crushed
  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