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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 116 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: current · drill · field · court · band · scale · cold · bore

  1. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  2. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  3. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  4. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  5. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  6. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. The ball is in your ________________.
  10. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  11. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  12. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  16. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  17. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  20. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  21. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  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. band — a music group
  2. court — of a king
  3. band — a rubber band
  4. court — of law
  5. drill — army training
  6. current — happening now
  7. cold — not warm
  8. field — farmland
  9. court — for sport
  10. band — a ring
  11. current — of water
  12. bore — gave birth
  13. field — a subject
  14. cold — an illness
  15. scale — in music
  16. current — electric
  17. scale — for weighing
  18. field — for sport
  19. drill — the tool
  20. drill — a practice
  21. scale — size or range
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. bore — to drill
  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