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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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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: drill · coach · pit · land · bat · perch · band · cell

  1. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  2. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  3. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  4. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  5. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  6. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  7. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  10. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  11. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  12. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  13. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  14. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  15. When are we going to ________________?
  16. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  17. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  18. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  19. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  20. Have you met the new head ________________?
  21. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  22. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  23. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  24. He was locked up in a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. coach — pulled by horses
  2. perch — the fish
  3. land — a country
  4. drill — a practice
  5. band — a music group
  6. perch — for a bird
  7. pit — a hole
  8. bat — the animal
  9. cell — in biology
  10. cell — a phone
  11. band — a rubber band
  12. coach — a trainer
  13. drill — army training
  14. band — a ring
  15. land — to come down
  16. drill — the tool
  17. bat — for baseball
  18. perch — for a bird
  19. land — ground
  20. coach — a trainer
  21. pit — in a race
  22. pit — a fruit stone
  23. bat — in an idiom
  24. cell — in a prison

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