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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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Word bank
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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: land · mine · drill · cold · bulb · stem · coach · band

  1. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  2. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  3. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  4. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  5. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  6. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  7. When are we going to ________________?
  8. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  11. I've got to change the light ________________.
  12. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  13. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  14. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  17. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  18. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  21. Have you met the new head ________________?
  22. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  23. The light ________________ burned out.
  24. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a ring
  2. coach — pulled by horses
  3. stem — a stem cell
  4. drill — a practice
  5. land — a country
  6. mine — belonging to me
  7. land — to come down
  8. drill — the tool
  9. cold — an illness
  10. stem — to come from
  11. bulb — for light
  12. drill — army training
  13. band — a rubber band
  14. bulb — of a plant
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. stem — of a plant
  17. mine — an explosive
  18. coach — a trainer
  19. cold — not warm
  20. land — ground
  21. coach — a trainer
  22. mine — for digging
  23. bulb — for light
  24. band — a music group

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