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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 · bound · chair · land · cell · rash · coach · sharp

  1. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. Have you met the new head ________________?
  4. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  5. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  6. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. He was locked up in a ________________.
  9. When are we going to ________________?
  10. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  11. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  12. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  13. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  14. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  15. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  16. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  17. It's one o'clock ________________.
  18. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  19. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  20. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  21. Don't do anything ________________.
  22. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  23. That was ________________ to happen.
  24. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. field — a subject
  3. coach — a trainer
  4. rash — on the skin
  5. sharp — with an edge
  6. chair — a professorship
  7. field — farmland
  8. cell — in a prison
  9. land — to come down
  10. coach — pulled by horses
  11. chair — a leader
  12. bound — tied together
  13. coach — a trainer
  14. chair — to sit on
  15. cell — a phone
  16. sharp — clever
  17. sharp — exactly
  18. bound — obliged
  19. cell — in biology
  20. land — a country
  21. rash — hasty
  22. rash — a series
  23. bound — certain
  24. field — for sport

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