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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: cold · charge · coach · wax · field · chest · sharp · mark

  1. Have you met the new head ________________?
  2. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  3. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  4. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. The tickets are free of ________________.
  7. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  8. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  9. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  10. It's one o'clock ________________.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  16. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  17. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  18. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  19. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  20. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  23. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  24. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.

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. sharp — clever
  4. mark — to pay attention
  5. field — for sport
  6. charge — a price
  7. wax — in the ear
  8. mark — a grade
  9. sharp — with an edge
  10. sharp — exactly
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. chest — of your body
  13. wax — for sculpting
  14. cold — not warm
  15. charge — electricity
  16. field — a subject
  17. chest — of your body
  18. charge — in control
  19. wax — to grow
  20. field — farmland
  21. cold — an illness
  22. coach — a trainer
  23. chest — a box
  24. mark — a trace

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