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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: cold · rest · face · field · band · stand · drill · root

  1. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  2. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  3. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  4. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  8. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  11. I can't ________________ this cold.
  12. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  13. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  14. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  15. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  19. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  20. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  21. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  24. We had a fire ________________ at school today.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a ring
  2. rest — what's left
  3. rest — a break
  4. rest — what's left
  5. field — for sport
  6. field — farmland
  7. face — part of the head
  8. root — of a word
  9. field — a subject
  10. drill — the tool
  11. stand — to bear
  12. band — a music group
  13. stand — for spectators
  14. face — to confront
  15. drill — army training
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. cold — an illness
  18. root — the cause
  19. stand — on your feet
  20. root — of a plant
  21. face — to point toward
  22. cold — not warm
  23. band — a rubber band
  24. drill — a practice

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