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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 116 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: shower · band · fine · kid · chair · court · coach · row

  1. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  2. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  3. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  4. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  5. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  6. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  7. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  8. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  9. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  10. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  11. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  12. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  13. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  14. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  15. Have you met the new head ________________?
  16. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  17. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  18. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  19. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  20. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  21. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  22. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  23. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  24. The ball is in your ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a quarrel
  2. fine — high quality
  3. kid — to tease
  4. fine — all right
  5. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  6. court — of law
  7. row — to paddle
  8. kid — child
  9. chair — a professorship
  10. chair — to sit on
  11. coach — pulled by horses
  12. fine — a penalty
  13. coach — a trainer
  14. band — a ring
  15. coach — a trainer
  16. band — a rubber band
  17. row — a line
  18. band — a music group
  19. chair — a leader
  20. court — of a king
  21. shower — a meteor shower
  22. shower — to wash
  23. shower — rain
  24. court — for sport

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