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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. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  2. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  3. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  4. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  5. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  6. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  7. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  8. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  9. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  10. Have you met the new head ________________?
  11. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  12. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  13. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  14. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  17. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  18. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  19. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  20. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  24. Do you need a ________________ with that?

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

Answer key

  1. coach — pulled by horses
  2. race — a contest
  3. kid — to tease
  4. racket — a loud noise
  5. kick — with a leg
  6. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  7. kid — child
  8. kick — in football
  9. hand — in cards
  10. coach — a trainer
  11. chair — a leader
  12. coach — a trainer
  13. hand — part of the body
  14. race — humankind
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. racket — for tennis
  17. chair — to sit on
  18. kick — a thrill
  19. racket — for tennis
  20. chair — a professorship
  21. cold — not warm
  22. cold — an illness
  23. race — the arms race
  24. hand — help

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