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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 116 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. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  3. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  4. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  5. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  6. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  7. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. That was a fun ________________.
  11. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  12. He works in a ________________ mill.
  13. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  14. He was locked up in a ________________.
  15. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  16. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  17. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  18. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. She's very handy with a ________________.
  21. Have you met the new head ________________?
  22. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  23. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  24. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.

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

Answer key

  1. coach — pulled by horses
  2. bat — for baseball
  3. game — wild animals
  4. cap — a hat
  5. coach — a trainer
  6. chair — a leader
  7. cap — a lid
  8. kid — to tease
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. game — a match
  11. chair — to sit on
  12. saw — the tool
  13. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  14. cell — in a prison
  15. chair — a professorship
  16. cell — a phone
  17. cap — of ice
  18. kid — child
  19. bat — the animal
  20. saw — the tool
  21. coach — a trainer
  22. saw — past of 'see'
  23. game — a kind of play
  24. cell — in biology

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