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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: cell · ball · coach · straw · capital · mate · rash · kid

  1. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  2. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  4. Have you found your soul ________________?
  5. Have you met the new head ________________?
  6. He was locked up in a ________________.
  7. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  8. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  9. Don't do anything ________________.
  10. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  11. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  12. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  13. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  16. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  17. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  18. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  19. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  20. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  21. The King held a masked ________________.
  22. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  23. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  24. I seem to be developing a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. coach — pulled by horses
  2. capital — a city
  3. rash — a series
  4. mate — a partner
  5. coach — a trainer
  6. cell — in a prison
  7. straw — dry grass
  8. cell — a phone
  9. rash — hasty
  10. straw — a straw man
  11. mate — a friend
  12. straw — to clutch at straws
  13. coach — a trainer
  14. kid — child
  15. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  16. capital — a big letter
  17. ball — a round shape
  18. capital — money
  19. ball — a great time
  20. cell — in biology
  21. ball — a dance
  22. mate — to breed
  23. kid — to tease
  24. rash — on the skin

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