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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.

Make a worksheet

Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

Words on the sheet
468
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: coach · bear · chest · branch · clip · content · chair · game

  1. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. Have you met the new head ________________?
  5. That was a fun ________________.
  6. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  7. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  8. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  9. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  10. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  11. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  12. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  13. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  14. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  15. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  16. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  17. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  18. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  19. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  20. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  24. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. coach — pulled by horses
  2. clip — for paper
  3. chest — of your body
  4. coach — a trainer
  5. game — a match
  6. branch — of a tree
  7. chair — a professorship
  8. game — wild animals
  9. bear — to put up with
  10. content — the amount
  11. chest — of your body
  12. content — happy
  13. chair — to sit on
  14. branch — of a bank
  15. game — a kind of play
  16. chest — a box
  17. chair — a leader
  18. coach — a trainer
  19. content — videos and posts
  20. branch — a division
  21. clip — to cut
  22. clip — a video
  23. bear — the animal
  24. bear — the animal

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