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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 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. Have you met the new head ________________?
  3. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  6. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  7. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  10. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  11. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  12. When was this ________________ built?
  13. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  14. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  15. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  16. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  17. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  18. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  19. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  20. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  21. My father caught me by the ________________.
  22. That was a fun ________________.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. coach — pulled by horses
  2. coach — a trainer
  3. arm — a part of something
  4. kid — to tease
  5. game — a kind of play
  6. temple — side of the head
  7. lean — to rest against
  8. cold — an illness
  9. game — wild animals
  10. lean — to bend
  11. coach — a trainer
  12. temple — a place of worship
  13. arm — part of the body
  14. temple — a place of worship
  15. lean — thin
  16. capital — a big letter
  17. capital — a city
  18. kid — child
  19. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  20. capital — money
  21. arm — part of the body
  22. game — a match
  23. cold — not warm
  24. cold — the Cold War

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