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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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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: toast · field · bore · chest · straw · chair · cell · drill

  1. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  2. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  3. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  4. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  5. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  6. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  7. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  8. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  9. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  10. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  11. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  12. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  13. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  14. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  15. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  16. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  17. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  18. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  19. He was locked up in a ________________.
  20. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  21. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  22. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  23. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  24. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.

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

Answer key

  1. field — for sport
  2. straw — dry grass
  3. toast — bread
  4. chest — a box
  5. toast — a drink to someone
  6. chair — a professorship
  7. chest — of your body
  8. bore — gave birth
  9. bore — to tire
  10. field — a subject
  11. cell — a phone
  12. cell — in biology
  13. field — farmland
  14. chair — to sit on
  15. drill — army training
  16. toast — the most admired
  17. straw — a straw man
  18. straw — to clutch at straws
  19. cell — in a prison
  20. drill — the tool
  21. bore — to drill
  22. drill — a practice
  23. chair — a leader
  24. chest — of your body

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