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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: net · roll · cold · rule · band · trunk · game · coach

  1. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  2. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  3. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  4. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  5. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  6. Have you met the new head ________________?
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  9. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  12. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. That was a fun ________________.
  15. We're on a ________________ here.
  16. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  17. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  18. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  19. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  20. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  21. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  22. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  23. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  24. The ball hit the back of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. net — for catching
  3. rule — government
  4. band — a rubber band
  5. game — wild animals
  6. coach — a trainer
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. rule — to rule out
  9. band — a music group
  10. cold — an illness
  11. roll — a list
  12. roll — a cake
  13. cold — not warm
  14. game — a match
  15. roll — on a roll
  16. trunk — of a car
  17. coach — a trainer
  18. coach — pulled by horses
  19. trunk — of an elephant
  20. trunk — of a tree
  21. rule — a law
  22. game — a kind of play
  23. band — a ring
  24. net — in sport

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