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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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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: season · pit · wave · chair · coach · bore · field · cold

  1. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  2. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  5. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  6. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  7. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  8. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  9. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  10. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  11. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  12. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  13. Did you ________________ the meat?
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. Have you met the new head ________________?
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  20. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  21. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  22. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  23. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  24. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?

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

Answer key

  1. season — of the year
  2. wave — with your hand
  3. field — farmland
  4. season — in sport
  5. chair — a professorship
  6. pit — a fruit stone
  7. pit — in a race
  8. chair — to sit on
  9. bore — gave birth
  10. wave — a sudden rise
  11. coach — pulled by horses
  12. coach — a trainer
  13. season — to add flavour
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. coach — a trainer
  16. cold — an illness
  17. wave — of the sea
  18. cold — not warm
  19. bore — to drill
  20. field — a subject
  21. chair — a leader
  22. field — for sport
  23. pit — a hole
  24. bore — to tire

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