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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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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: club · chest · coach · cold · wake · ball · wave · game

  1. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  2. Have you met the new head ________________?
  3. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  4. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  5. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  6. That was a fun ________________.
  7. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  8. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  9. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  10. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  11. The King held a masked ________________.
  12. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  13. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  17. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  18. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  21. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  22. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  23. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  24. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. coach — a trainer
  3. chest — of your body
  4. ball — a great time
  5. wake — before a funeral
  6. game — a match
  7. coach — a trainer
  8. club — a group
  9. coach — pulled by horses
  10. club — for golf
  11. ball — a dance
  12. wave — with your hand
  13. wake — to stop sleeping
  14. cold — an illness
  15. cold — not warm
  16. club — for dancing
  17. chest — a box
  18. game — wild animals
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. wave — of the sea
  21. ball — a round shape
  22. wake — a trail
  23. wave — a sudden rise
  24. game — a kind of play

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