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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: coach · wound · stand · rule · ball · chest · hand · bark

  1. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  4. I can't ________________ this cold.
  5. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  6. Have you met the new head ________________?
  7. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  8. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  9. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  10. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  11. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  12. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  13. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  14. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  15. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  16. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  17. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  18. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  19. The King held a masked ________________.
  20. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  21. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  22. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  23. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  24. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.

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

Answer key

  1. coach — pulled by horses
  2. hand — help
  3. ball — a round shape
  4. stand — to bear
  5. wound — an injury
  6. coach — a trainer
  7. hand — in cards
  8. wound — past of 'wind'
  9. ball — a great time
  10. chest — of your body
  11. bark — to shout
  12. chest — of your body
  13. rule — to rule out
  14. rule — a law
  15. bark — of a tree
  16. hand — part of the body
  17. bark — a dog's sound
  18. coach — a trainer
  19. ball — a dance
  20. rule — government
  21. chest — a box
  22. wound — an injury
  23. stand — for spectators
  24. stand — on your feet

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