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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.

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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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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: capital · cold · staff · wake · ball · cell · coach · chair

  1. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  4. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  5. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  6. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  7. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  8. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  11. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  12. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  13. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  14. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  15. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  16. The King held a masked ________________.
  17. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  18. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  19. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  20. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. Have you met the new head ________________?
  23. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  24. He was locked up in a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. coach — pulled by horses
  2. cold — not warm
  3. staff — a stick
  4. cell — in biology
  5. coach — a trainer
  6. capital — money
  7. chair — a leader
  8. wake — before a funeral
  9. cold — an illness
  10. ball — a round shape
  11. ball — a great time
  12. chair — to sit on
  13. capital — a big letter
  14. wake — to stop sleeping
  15. wake — a trail
  16. ball — a dance
  17. staff — employees
  18. staff — employees
  19. capital — a city
  20. cell — a phone
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. coach — a trainer
  23. chair — a professorship
  24. cell — in a prison

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