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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: coach · bat · key · game · bark · land · row · fine

  1. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  2. When are we going to ________________?
  3. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  4. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  5. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  6. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  7. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  8. This piece is in a major ________________.
  9. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  10. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  11. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  12. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  15. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  16. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  17. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  18. Have you met the new head ________________?
  19. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  20. That was a fun ________________.
  21. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  22. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  23. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. coach — pulled by horses
  2. land — to come down
  3. bark — of a tree
  4. bat — in an idiom
  5. fine — all right
  6. bat — for baseball
  7. fine — high quality
  8. key — in music
  9. row — a line
  10. land — a country
  11. bark — to shout
  12. game — wild animals
  13. bat — the animal
  14. key — for a lock
  15. fine — a penalty
  16. key — the most important part
  17. coach — a trainer
  18. coach — a trainer
  19. game — a kind of play
  20. game — a match
  21. bark — a dog's sound
  22. row — a quarrel
  23. land — ground
  24. row — to paddle

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