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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.

Words on the sheet
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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: straw · tube · spell · fork · chip · court · march · coach

  1. Have you met the new head ________________?
  2. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  3. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  4. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  5. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  6. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  7. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  8. How do you ________________ your surname?
  9. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  10. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  11. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  12. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  13. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  14. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  15. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  16. I'll be taking the ________________.
  17. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  18. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  19. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  20. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  21. The ball is in your ________________.
  22. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  23. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  24. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.

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

Answer key

  1. coach — a trainer
  2. spell — magic
  3. march — the month
  4. march — music
  5. tube — in a tire
  6. court — of law
  7. coach — a trainer
  8. spell — letters
  9. chip — in a computer
  10. coach — pulled by horses
  11. fork — to eat with
  12. chip — for betting
  13. court — of a king
  14. tube — a container
  15. straw — a straw man
  16. tube — the underground
  17. straw — dry grass
  18. chip — to eat
  19. straw — to clutch at straws
  20. fork — a garden tool
  21. court — for sport
  22. march — the month
  23. fork — in a road
  24. spell — a short time

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