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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: chest · drill · wake · field · content · land · rock · season

  1. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  3. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  4. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  7. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  8. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  9. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  12. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  13. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  14. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  15. When are we going to ________________?
  16. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  17. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  18. Did you ________________ the meat?
  19. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  20. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  21. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  22. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  23. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  24. We were using a ________________ as a seat.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. wake — a trail
  3. season — of the year
  4. content — videos and posts
  5. field — for sport
  6. season — in sport
  7. land — ground
  8. drill — army training
  9. wake — before a funeral
  10. chest — a box
  11. rock — to move gently
  12. field — farmland
  13. drill — the tool
  14. chest — of your body
  15. land — to come down
  16. wake — to stop sleeping
  17. rock — music
  18. season — to add flavour
  19. field — a subject
  20. land — a country
  21. content — the amount
  22. drill — a practice
  23. chest — of your body
  24. rock — a stone

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