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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: bound · wave · march · cold · chair · drill · field · sharp

  1. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  2. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  3. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  6. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  7. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  8. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  9. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  10. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  11. It's one o'clock ________________.
  12. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  15. That was ________________ to happen.
  16. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  17. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  18. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  19. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  20. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  21. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — to sit on
  2. chair — a leader
  3. wave — a sudden rise
  4. field — for sport
  5. chair — a professorship
  6. drill — a practice
  7. bound — tied together
  8. march — music
  9. drill — the tool
  10. march — the month
  11. sharp — exactly
  12. drill — army training
  13. cold — not warm
  14. march — the month
  15. bound — certain
  16. bound — obliged
  17. field — a subject
  18. sharp — clever
  19. sharp — with an edge
  20. wave — of the sea
  21. wave — with your hand
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. cold — an illness
  24. field — farmland

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