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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: field · chest · cabinet · date · drill · squash · branch · ground

  1. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  3. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  4. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  5. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  6. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  7. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  8. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. There's no middle ________________.
  11. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  12. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  13. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  14. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  15. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  16. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  17. What do you think of the new ________________?
  18. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  19. Have you settled on a ________________?
  20. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  21. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  22. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  23. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  24. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. branch — of a bank
  3. field — for sport
  4. drill — the tool
  5. chest — of your body
  6. date — the fruit
  7. ground — crushed
  8. chest — a box
  9. field — farmland
  10. ground — a position
  11. cabinet — ministers
  12. date — on the calendar
  13. cabinet — a cupboard
  14. squash — the vegetable
  15. drill — a practice
  16. branch — a division
  17. cabinet — ministers
  18. branch — of a tree
  19. date — on the calendar
  20. ground — the earth
  21. squash — the sport
  22. chest — of your body
  23. squash — to crush
  24. drill — army training

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