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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 120 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: plane · ground · drill · coach · wake · hand · chest · fall

  1. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  2. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  3. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  4. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  5. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  6. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  7. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  8. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  9. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  10. Have you met the new head ________________?
  11. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  12. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  13. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  14. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  15. The ________________ took off on time.
  16. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  17. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  20. There's no middle ________________.
  21. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  22. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  23. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  24. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.

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

Answer key

  1. wake — to stop sleeping
  2. chest — of your body
  3. fall — to drop
  4. chest — a box
  5. ground — the earth
  6. plane — a tool
  7. drill — the tool
  8. hand — part of the body
  9. hand — help
  10. coach — a trainer
  11. fall — the season
  12. wake — a trail
  13. coach — pulled by horses
  14. wake — before a funeral
  15. plane — an aircraft
  16. plane — in geometry
  17. coach — a trainer
  18. hand — in cards
  19. ground — crushed
  20. ground — a position
  21. chest — of your body
  22. drill — army training
  23. drill — a practice
  24. fall — to drop

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