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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: spring · chest · pit · scale · tear · rule · stem · coach

  1. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  2. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  3. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  4. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  5. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  6. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  7. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  8. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  9. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  10. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  11. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  12. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  13. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  14. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  15. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  16. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  17. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  18. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  19. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  20. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  21. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  22. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  23. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  24. Have you met the new head ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. coach — pulled by horses
  2. coach — a trainer
  3. pit — a fruit stone
  4. spring — the season
  5. chest — of your body
  6. stem — of a plant
  7. spring — of water
  8. rule — to rule out
  9. rule — government
  10. scale — size or range
  11. scale — for weighing
  12. stem — a stem cell
  13. stem — to come from
  14. rule — a law
  15. pit — in a race
  16. tear — from crying
  17. tear — to rip
  18. chest — of your body
  19. tear — from crying
  20. pit — a hole
  21. scale — in music
  22. spring — a coil
  23. chest — a box
  24. coach — a trainer

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