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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: cold · coach · squash · rest · key · wind · craft · chest

  1. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  2. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  3. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  4. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  5. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  6. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  7. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  8. Have you met the new head ________________?
  9. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  10. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  11. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  12. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  13. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  14. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  15. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  16. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  17. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  18. This piece is in a major ________________.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  21. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. key — for a lock
  3. wind — moving air
  4. craft — a skill
  5. craft — boats
  6. squash — to crush
  7. craft — a handicraft
  8. coach — a trainer
  9. rest — what's left
  10. squash — the sport
  11. coach — a trainer
  12. chest — of your body
  13. key — the most important part
  14. coach — pulled by horses
  15. rest — a break
  16. wind — to turn a key
  17. squash — the vegetable
  18. key — in music
  19. cold — not warm
  20. rest — what's left
  21. wind — moving air
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. chest — a box
  24. cold — an illness

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