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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 · degree · chest · wound · arm · wind · drill · march

  1. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  2. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  3. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  4. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  5. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  6. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  7. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  8. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  9. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  12. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  13. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  14. My father caught me by the ________________.
  15. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  16. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  17. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  18. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  19. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  20. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  21. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  22. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  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. wound — an injury
  2. coach — pulled by horses
  3. wind — to turn a key
  4. march — the month
  5. arm — part of the body
  6. chest — of your body
  7. coach — a trainer
  8. wind — moving air
  9. march — the month
  10. degree — from a university
  11. chest — of your body
  12. chest — a box
  13. drill — army training
  14. arm — part of the body
  15. drill — a practice
  16. drill — the tool
  17. wind — moving air
  18. wound — past of 'wind'
  19. arm — a part of something
  20. wound — an injury
  21. march — music
  22. degree — an amount
  23. degree — temperature
  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