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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: cold · coach · pit · chair · band · bark · sharp · chest

  1. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  2. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  3. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  4. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  5. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  10. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  11. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  12. Have you met the new head ________________?
  13. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  14. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  15. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  16. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  17. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  18. It's one o'clock ________________.
  19. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  20. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  21. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  24. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — of a tree
  2. chest — of your body
  3. chest — a box
  4. pit — in a race
  5. band — a ring
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. pit — a fruit stone
  8. cold — not warm
  9. chest — of your body
  10. bark — a dog's sound
  11. chair — a professorship
  12. coach — a trainer
  13. band — a rubber band
  14. coach — a trainer
  15. coach — pulled by horses
  16. sharp — with an edge
  17. sharp — clever
  18. sharp — exactly
  19. chair — to sit on
  20. pit — a hole
  21. bark — to shout
  22. cold — an illness
  23. band — a music group
  24. chair — a leader

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