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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: object · pitch · chair · coach · cold · face · wound · bat

  1. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  4. Have you met the new head ________________?
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  9. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  10. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  11. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  12. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  13. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  14. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  15. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  16. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  19. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  20. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  21. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  22. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a leader
  2. bat — the animal
  3. object — a thing
  4. coach — a trainer
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. bat — for baseball
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. pitch — completely
  9. pitch — a sales talk
  10. pitch — a sports field
  11. coach — pulled by horses
  12. chair — to sit on
  13. chair — a professorship
  14. wound — past of 'wind'
  15. object — an aim
  16. face — part of the head
  17. cold — an illness
  18. wound — an injury
  19. face — to point toward
  20. coach — a trainer
  21. object — to protest
  22. wound — an injury
  23. cold — not warm
  24. face — to confront

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