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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.

Words on the sheet
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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: band · cold · straw · swing · plane · lean · coach · roll

  1. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  2. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  3. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  4. The ________________ took off on time.
  5. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  8. Have you met the new head ________________?
  9. We're on a ________________ here.
  10. David sat on the ________________.
  11. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  14. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  15. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  16. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  17. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  18. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  19. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  20. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  23. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  24. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.

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

Answer key

  1. coach — pulled by horses
  2. plane — in geometry
  3. coach — a trainer
  4. plane — an aircraft
  5. plane — a tool
  6. cold — an illness
  7. lean — thin
  8. coach — a trainer
  9. roll — on a roll
  10. swing — to play on
  11. straw — a straw man
  12. cold — not warm
  13. straw — dry grass
  14. swing — music
  15. roll — a cake
  16. roll — a list
  17. band — a music group
  18. band — a rubber band
  19. lean — to bend
  20. band — a ring
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. lean — to rest against
  23. straw — to clutch at straws
  24. swing — in golf

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