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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: kid · coach · last · ruler · swing · cold · lean · pop

  1. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  4. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  5. David sat on the ________________.
  6. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  7. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  8. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  9. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  10. False peace will not ________________.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  13. You don't need to ________________ round.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  16. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  17. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  18. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  19. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  20. Have you met the new head ________________?
  21. We're almost out of ________________.
  22. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. He is as ________________ as a wolf.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. last — final
  3. ruler — a monarch
  4. lean — to bend
  5. swing — to play on
  6. pop — music
  7. ruler — for measuring
  8. coach — a trainer
  9. coach — pulled by horses
  10. last — to go on
  11. cold — not warm
  12. last — finally
  13. pop — to visit
  14. cold — an illness
  15. swing — music
  16. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  17. swing — in golf
  18. ruler — for measuring
  19. kid — to tease
  20. coach — a trainer
  21. pop — soda
  22. lean — to rest against
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. lean — thin

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