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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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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 · pass · field · coach · band · toast · chest · fall

  1. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  3. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  4. Have you met the new head ________________?
  5. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  8. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  9. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  10. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  11. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  12. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  16. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  17. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  21. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  22. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  23. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  24. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. fall — to drop
  3. band — a music group
  4. coach — a trainer
  5. chest — of your body
  6. field — farmland
  7. pass — a permit
  8. band — a ring
  9. toast — a drink to someone
  10. pass — to succeed
  11. fall — to drop
  12. chest — a box
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. cold — an illness
  15. chest — of your body
  16. toast — the most admired
  17. coach — pulled by horses
  18. cold — not warm
  19. field — for sport
  20. coach — a trainer
  21. pass — to spend time
  22. band — a rubber band
  23. toast — bread
  24. fall — the season

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