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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. Have you met the new head ________________?
  2. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  3. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  4. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  5. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  6. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  7. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  8. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  11. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  14. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  15. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  16. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  17. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  18. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  19. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  22. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  23. He is an ace ________________.
  24. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.

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

Answer key

  1. coach — a trainer
  2. fork — a garden tool
  3. race — a contest
  4. fork — to eat with
  5. fork — in a road
  6. chest — of your body
  7. race — humankind
  8. coach — a trainer
  9. bat — the animal
  10. squash — the sport
  11. coach — pulled by horses
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. band — a rubber band
  14. chest — of your body
  15. pitcher — a jug
  16. squash — the vegetable
  17. chest — a box
  18. pitcher — a jug
  19. race — the arms race
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. band — a music group
  22. band — a ring
  23. pitcher — in baseball
  24. squash — to crush

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