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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.

Words on the sheet
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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: coach · track · game · lean · bark · spell · cold · file

  1. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  2. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  3. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  4. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  5. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  6. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  11. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  12. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  15. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  16. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  17. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  18. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  19. That was a fun ________________.
  20. How do you ________________ your surname?
  21. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  22. Have you met the new head ________________?
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — magic
  2. coach — pulled by horses
  3. spell — a short time
  4. lean — thin
  5. game — wild animals
  6. bark — to shout
  7. cold — not warm
  8. track — a path
  9. cold — an illness
  10. file — a document
  11. file — a tool
  12. game — a kind of play
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. bark — of a tree
  15. track — to keep track
  16. track — a song
  17. lean — to bend
  18. coach — a trainer
  19. game — a match
  20. spell — letters
  21. bark — a dog's sound
  22. coach — a trainer
  23. file — a line of people
  24. lean — to rest against

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