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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: season · board · chest · drill · cell · tear · scale · land

  1. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  2. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  3. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  4. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  5. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  6. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  7. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  8. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  9. Did you ________________ the meat?
  10. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  11. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  12. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  13. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  14. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  15. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  16. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  17. When are we going to ________________?
  18. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  19. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  20. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  21. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  22. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  23. He was locked up in a ________________.
  24. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. scale — in music
  3. drill — the tool
  4. board — a flat piece
  5. scale — size or range
  6. land — ground
  7. season — of the year
  8. chest — of your body
  9. season — to add flavour
  10. drill — a practice
  11. cell — a phone
  12. board — to get on
  13. tear — from crying
  14. chest — a box
  15. tear — to rip
  16. chest — of your body
  17. land — to come down
  18. season — in sport
  19. drill — army training
  20. scale — for weighing
  21. land — a country
  22. board — a committee
  23. cell — in a prison
  24. cell — in biology

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