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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 116 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: game · straw · coach · fall · content · bark · rock · sharp

  1. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  2. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  3. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  4. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  5. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  6. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  7. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  8. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  9. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  10. It's one o'clock ________________.
  11. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  12. That was a fun ________________.
  13. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  14. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  15. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  16. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  17. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  18. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  19. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  20. Have you met the new head ________________?
  21. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  22. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  23. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  24. He's quite ________________, isn't he?

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

Answer key

  1. coach — pulled by horses
  2. game — a kind of play
  3. sharp — with an edge
  4. straw — to clutch at straws
  5. bark — of a tree
  6. content — happy
  7. fall — the season
  8. fall — to drop
  9. content — the amount
  10. sharp — exactly
  11. fall — to drop
  12. game — a match
  13. bark — a dog's sound
  14. bark — to shout
  15. game — wild animals
  16. rock — to move gently
  17. rock — a stone
  18. straw — dry grass
  19. straw — a straw man
  20. coach — a trainer
  21. coach — a trainer
  22. rock — music
  23. content — videos and posts
  24. sharp — clever

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