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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: chair · drill · field · cold · foot · trunk · bore · land

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  3. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  4. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  5. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  8. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  9. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  10. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  11. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  12. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  15. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  18. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  21. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  22. When are we going to ________________?
  23. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  24. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. trunk — of an elephant
  3. chair — a professorship
  4. foot — part of the body
  5. drill — a practice
  6. field — a subject
  7. bore — to tire
  8. land — ground
  9. land — a country
  10. bore — gave birth
  11. bore — to drill
  12. foot — the bottom
  13. cold — an illness
  14. trunk — of a car
  15. drill — the tool
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. drill — army training
  18. trunk — of a tree
  19. field — farmland
  20. field — for sport
  21. chair — to sit on
  22. land — to come down
  23. foot — a measure
  24. chair — a leader

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