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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: game · land · lean · plane · band · coach · date · straw

  1. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  2. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  3. The ________________ took off on time.
  4. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  5. Have you settled on a ________________?
  6. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  7. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  8. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  9. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  10. When are we going to ________________?
  11. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  12. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  13. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  14. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  15. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  16. That was a fun ________________.
  17. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  18. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  19. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  20. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  21. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  22. Have you met the new head ________________?
  23. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  24. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.

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

Answer key

  1. game — wild animals
  2. coach — pulled by horses
  3. plane — an aircraft
  4. land — a country
  5. date — on the calendar
  6. straw — a straw man
  7. band — a music group
  8. lean — to rest against
  9. game — a kind of play
  10. land — to come down
  11. band — a ring
  12. plane — a tool
  13. plane — in geometry
  14. lean — thin
  15. lean — to bend
  16. game — a match
  17. coach — a trainer
  18. straw — dry grass
  19. date — on the calendar
  20. straw — to clutch at straws
  21. land — ground
  22. coach — a trainer
  23. date — the fruit
  24. band — a rubber band

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