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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 from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: staff · coach · kid · tear · cold · march

  1. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  4. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  5. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  8. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  9. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. Have you met the new head ________________?
  12. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  13. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  14. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  15. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  16. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  17. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  18. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.

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

Answer key

  1. staff — employees
  2. cold — an illness
  3. coach — a trainer
  4. staff — a stick
  5. kid — to tease
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. coach — pulled by horses
  8. march — music
  9. staff — employees
  10. cold — not warm
  11. coach — a trainer
  12. march — the month
  13. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  14. tear — to rip
  15. march — the month
  16. kid — child
  17. tear — from crying
  18. tear — from crying

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