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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: bark · cold · coach · fine · season · rest · tube · spring

  1. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  2. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  3. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  4. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  5. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  6. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  7. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. Did you ________________ the meat?
  10. Have you met the new head ________________?
  11. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  12. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  13. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  14. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  15. I'll be taking the ________________.
  16. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  17. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  18. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  22. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  23. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  24. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.

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

Answer key

  1. coach — pulled by horses
  2. season — of the year
  3. rest — what's left
  4. coach — a trainer
  5. spring — the season
  6. tube — in a tire
  7. fine — a penalty
  8. cold — an illness
  9. season — to add flavour
  10. coach — a trainer
  11. fine — high quality
  12. tube — a container
  13. bark — of a tree
  14. spring — a coil
  15. tube — the underground
  16. season — in sport
  17. fine — all right
  18. rest — a break
  19. cold — not warm
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. rest — what's left
  22. bark — a dog's sound
  23. spring — of water
  24. bark — to shout

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