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

  1. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  2. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  7. Have you met the new head ________________?
  8. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  9. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  14. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  17. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  20. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  21. That was a fun ________________.
  22. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  23. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  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. drill — army training
  2. coach — pulled by horses
  3. cold — an illness
  4. game — wild animals
  5. field — farmland
  6. toast — bread
  7. coach — a trainer
  8. rock — music
  9. drill — the tool
  10. field — for sport
  11. rock — to move gently
  12. cold — not warm
  13. game — a kind of play
  14. toast — a drink to someone
  15. kid — child
  16. field — a subject
  17. toast — the most admired
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. rock — a stone
  20. kid — to tease
  21. game — a match
  22. coach — a trainer
  23. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  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