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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 120 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.

Make a worksheet

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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Word bank
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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: clip · chair · wind · field · coach · chest

  1. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  2. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  8. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  9. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  12. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  13. Have you met the new head ________________?
  14. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  18. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?

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

Answer key

  1. coach — a trainer
  2. chair — a professorship
  3. field — a subject
  4. wind — to turn a key
  5. clip — a video
  6. field — farmland
  7. chest — of your body
  8. wind — moving air
  9. chair — a leader
  10. chest — a box
  11. chair — to sit on
  12. chest — of your body
  13. coach — a trainer
  14. wind — moving air
  15. clip — to cut
  16. clip — for paper
  17. field — for sport
  18. coach — pulled by horses

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