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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 120 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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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: straw · coach · cold · race · game · chair · object · pound

  1. Have you met the new head ________________?
  2. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  3. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  4. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  5. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  6. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  7. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  8. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  9. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  10. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  11. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  12. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  17. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  18. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  19. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  20. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  21. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  22. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. That was a fun ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. coach — a trainer
  2. object — to protest
  3. race — humankind
  4. object — a thing
  5. straw — a straw man
  6. pound — for dogs
  7. race — a contest
  8. straw — dry grass
  9. straw — to clutch at straws
  10. pound — a weight
  11. coach — pulled by horses
  12. chair — to sit on
  13. cold — an illness
  14. pound — to hit hard
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. chair — a leader
  17. chair — a professorship
  18. object — an aim
  19. game — wild animals
  20. coach — a trainer
  21. race — the arms race
  22. game — a kind of play
  23. cold — not warm
  24. game — a match

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