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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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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: squash · court · wake · cell · bank · coach · present · clip

  1. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  2. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  3. Have you met the new head ________________?
  4. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  7. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  10. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  13. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  14. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  15. He was locked up in a ________________.
  16. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  17. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  18. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  19. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  20. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  21. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  22. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  23. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  24. The ball is in your ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. coach — pulled by horses
  2. squash — the sport
  3. coach — a trainer
  4. present — there
  5. clip — a video
  6. wake — to stop sleeping
  7. cell — in biology
  8. clip — to cut
  9. cell — a phone
  10. bank — for money
  11. clip — for paper
  12. squash — the vegetable
  13. bank — of a river
  14. court — of law
  15. cell — in a prison
  16. squash — to crush
  17. coach — a trainer
  18. bank — for money
  19. wake — a trail
  20. wake — before a funeral
  21. court — of a king
  22. present — the time now
  23. present — a gift
  24. court — for sport

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