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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. When are we going to ________________?
  3. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  4. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  5. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  6. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  7. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  8. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  9. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  10. False peace will not ________________.
  11. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  12. David sat on the ________________.
  13. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  14. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  15. Have you met the new head ________________?
  16. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  17. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  18. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  19. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  20. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  21. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  22. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  23. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  24. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.

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

Answer key

  1. coach — pulled by horses
  2. land — to come down
  3. land — ground
  4. racket — for tennis
  5. swing — in golf
  6. racket — for tennis
  7. racket — a loud noise
  8. scale — for weighing
  9. scale — size or range
  10. last — to go on
  11. coach — a trainer
  12. swing — to play on
  13. last — final
  14. craft — a skill
  15. coach — a trainer
  16. scale — in music
  17. craft — boats
  18. last — finally
  19. swing — music
  20. patient — a sick person
  21. patient — calm and waiting
  22. patient — a sick person
  23. land — a country
  24. craft — a handicraft

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