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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: band · chest · season · coach · cell · stem · pop · tear

  1. Did you ________________ the meat?
  2. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  3. You don't need to ________________ round.
  4. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  5. He was locked up in a ________________.
  6. Have you met the new head ________________?
  7. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  8. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  9. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  10. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  11. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  12. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  13. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  14. We're almost out of ________________.
  15. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  16. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  17. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  18. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  19. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  20. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  21. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  22. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  23. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  24. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.

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

Answer key

  1. season — to add flavour
  2. chest — of your body
  3. pop — to visit
  4. tear — from crying
  5. cell — in a prison
  6. coach — a trainer
  7. season — in sport
  8. tear — to rip
  9. band — a ring
  10. band — a rubber band
  11. cell — in biology
  12. chest — a box
  13. cell — a phone
  14. pop — soda
  15. pop — music
  16. coach — pulled by horses
  17. tear — from crying
  18. stem — to come from
  19. stem — of a plant
  20. stem — a stem cell
  21. season — of the year
  22. band — a music group
  23. coach — a trainer
  24. chest — of your body

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