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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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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: straw · chest · coach · wave · land · wind · pass · row

  1. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  2. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  3. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  4. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  5. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  6. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  7. When are we going to ________________?
  8. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  9. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  10. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  11. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  12. Have you met the new head ________________?
  13. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  14. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  15. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  16. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  17. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  18. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  19. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  20. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  21. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  22. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  23. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  24. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.

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

Answer key

  1. pass — to succeed
  2. pass — to spend time
  3. pass — a permit
  4. coach — a trainer
  5. chest — of your body
  6. wind — moving air
  7. land — to come down
  8. wind — to turn a key
  9. chest — a box
  10. wave — of the sea
  11. straw — a straw man
  12. coach — a trainer
  13. wind — moving air
  14. coach — pulled by horses
  15. row — a quarrel
  16. straw — to clutch at straws
  17. land — ground
  18. straw — dry grass
  19. row — to paddle
  20. row — a line
  21. land — a country
  22. wave — with your hand
  23. chest — of your body
  24. wave — a sudden rise

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