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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
468
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 · court · season · race · mine · land · chest · pitch

  1. When are we going to ________________?
  2. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  3. The ball is in your ________________.
  4. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  5. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  6. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  7. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  8. Did you ________________ the meat?
  9. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  10. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  11. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  12. Have you met the new head ________________?
  13. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  14. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  15. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  16. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  17. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  18. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  19. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  20. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  21. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  22. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  23. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  24. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.

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

Answer key

  1. land — to come down
  2. land — ground
  3. court — for sport
  4. chest — of your body
  5. mine — an explosive
  6. season — in sport
  7. court — of law
  8. season — to add flavour
  9. land — a country
  10. mine — belonging to me
  11. pitch — a sales talk
  12. coach — a trainer
  13. chest — a box
  14. race — humankind
  15. mine — for digging
  16. pitch — completely
  17. race — the arms race
  18. coach — a trainer
  19. coach — pulled by horses
  20. pitch — a sports field
  21. season — of the year
  22. court — of a king
  23. chest — of your body
  24. race — a contest

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