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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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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: wound · coach · roll · mate · rush · cell · cold · chair

  1. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  2. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  3. Have you met the new head ________________?
  4. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  5. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  6. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  7. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  8. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  9. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  10. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  11. He was locked up in a ________________.
  12. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  13. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. We're on a ________________ here.
  16. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  17. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  18. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  19. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  20. That must've been a ________________.
  21. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. Have you found your soul ________________?
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — past of 'wind'
  2. chair — a leader
  3. coach — a trainer
  4. cell — a phone
  5. rush — hurry
  6. wound — an injury
  7. roll — a cake
  8. wound — an injury
  9. cell — in biology
  10. roll — a list
  11. cell — in a prison
  12. chair — to sit on
  13. rush — to hurry
  14. cold — not warm
  15. roll — on a roll
  16. mate — to breed
  17. chair — a professorship
  18. coach — a trainer
  19. coach — pulled by horses
  20. rush — a thrill
  21. mate — a friend
  22. cold — an illness
  23. mate — a partner
  24. cold — the Cold War

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