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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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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  2. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  3. That was ________________ to happen.
  4. The ball is in your ________________.
  5. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  6. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  7. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  8. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  9. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  10. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  11. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  12. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  13. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  14. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  15. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  16. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  17. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  18. Have you met the new head ________________?
  19. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  20. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  21. That must've been a ________________.
  22. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  23. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  24. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — to hurry
  2. coach — pulled by horses
  3. bound — certain
  4. court — for sport
  5. court — of a king
  6. rush — hurry
  7. bound — tied together
  8. bound — obliged
  9. wound — an injury
  10. straw — to clutch at straws
  11. row — a quarrel
  12. wound — past of 'wind'
  13. row — a line
  14. court — of law
  15. fork — a garden tool
  16. fork — in a road
  17. straw — a straw man
  18. coach — a trainer
  19. coach — a trainer
  20. row — to paddle
  21. rush — a thrill
  22. fork — to eat with
  23. straw — dry grass
  24. wound — an injury

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