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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 · bass · leaves · track · march · drill · coach · clip

  1. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  2. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  3. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  4. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  5. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  6. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  7. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  8. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  9. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  12. Have you met the new head ________________?
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  15. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  16. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  17. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  18. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  19. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  20. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  23. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  24. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.

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

Answer key

  1. drill — army training
  2. bass — the instrument
  3. coach — a trainer
  4. leaves — to go away
  5. drill — the tool
  6. track — a song
  7. chest — of your body
  8. bass — low music
  9. leaves — of a tree
  10. clip — to cut
  11. bass — the fish
  12. coach — a trainer
  13. clip — a video
  14. leaves — lets stay
  15. track — to keep track
  16. coach — pulled by horses
  17. march — the month
  18. chest — a box
  19. drill — a practice
  20. track — a path
  21. clip — for paper
  22. chest — of your body
  23. march — music
  24. march — the month

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