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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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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: squash · drill · track · cold · trunk · chair · ground · content

  1. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  4. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  5. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  6. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  7. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  8. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  9. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  10. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  11. There's no middle ________________.
  12. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  13. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  14. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  15. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  16. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  17. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  18. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  19. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  20. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  21. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — to sit on
  2. cold — not warm
  3. squash — the sport
  4. trunk — of a car
  5. track — a song
  6. track — to keep track
  7. squash — to crush
  8. trunk — of an elephant
  9. squash — the vegetable
  10. drill — the tool
  11. ground — a position
  12. ground — the earth
  13. trunk — of a tree
  14. drill — a practice
  15. drill — army training
  16. content — happy
  17. content — the amount
  18. content — videos and posts
  19. ground — crushed
  20. track — a path
  21. chair — a professorship
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. cold — an illness
  24. chair — a leader

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