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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: clip · root · wound · wake · chair · pit · coach · wind

  1. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  2. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  3. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  4. Have you met the new head ________________?
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  7. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  8. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  9. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  10. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  11. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  14. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  15. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  16. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  17. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  18. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  19. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  20. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  21. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  24. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a professorship
  2. coach — pulled by horses
  3. wake — a trail
  4. coach — a trainer
  5. clip — for paper
  6. chair — to sit on
  7. wind — moving air
  8. pit — in a race
  9. root — of a word
  10. pit — a hole
  11. wound — an injury
  12. clip — to cut
  13. wake — to stop sleeping
  14. wound — past of 'wind'
  15. root — of a plant
  16. coach — a trainer
  17. chair — a leader
  18. wake — before a funeral
  19. root — the cause
  20. wind — moving air
  21. pit — a fruit stone
  22. clip — a video
  23. wind — to turn a key
  24. wound — an injury

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