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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: chest · snap · straw · drill · bound · coach · sharp · pitcher

  1. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  2. He is an ace ________________.
  3. It's one o'clock ________________.
  4. That was ________________ to happen.
  5. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  6. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  7. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  8. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  9. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  10. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  11. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  12. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  13. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  14. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  15. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  16. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  17. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  18. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  19. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  20. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  21. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  22. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  23. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  24. Have you met the new head ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. pitcher — in baseball
  3. sharp — exactly
  4. bound — certain
  5. sharp — with an edge
  6. bound — tied together
  7. sharp — clever
  8. bound — obliged
  9. chest — of your body
  10. snap — to speak sharply
  11. coach — a trainer
  12. drill — the tool
  13. straw — a straw man
  14. straw — dry grass
  15. snap — to snap out of it
  16. straw — to clutch at straws
  17. pitcher — a jug
  18. drill — a practice
  19. coach — pulled by horses
  20. chest — of your body
  21. chest — a box
  22. drill — army training
  23. pitcher — a jug
  24. coach — a trainer

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