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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: tear · bat · hand · mug · coach · bark · chest · swing

  1. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  2. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  3. David sat on the ________________.
  4. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  7. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  8. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  9. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  10. Have you met the new head ________________?
  11. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  12. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  13. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  14. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  15. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  18. Where did you ________________ them?
  19. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  20. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  21. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  22. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  23. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  24. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — in an idiom
  2. hand — part of the body
  3. swing — to play on
  4. coach — a trainer
  5. hand — help
  6. mug — a cup
  7. chest — a box
  8. swing — in golf
  9. tear — from crying
  10. coach — a trainer
  11. tear — to rip
  12. mug — a face
  13. bat — for baseball
  14. hand — in cards
  15. chest — of your body
  16. bat — the animal
  17. coach — pulled by horses
  18. mug — to rob
  19. tear — from crying
  20. bark — a dog's sound
  21. chest — of your body
  22. bark — to shout
  23. swing — music
  24. bark — of a tree

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