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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: wake · coach · cold · mug · race · tear · swing · key

  1. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  2. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  3. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  6. David sat on the ________________.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  11. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  12. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  13. Where did you ________________ them?
  14. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  15. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  16. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  17. This piece is in a major ________________.
  18. Have you met the new head ________________?
  19. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  20. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  21. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  22. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  23. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  24. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. mug — a face
  3. key — the most important part
  4. cold — not warm
  5. wake — before a funeral
  6. swing — to play on
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. wake — to stop sleeping
  9. cold — an illness
  10. coach — pulled by horses
  11. tear — to rip
  12. race — humankind
  13. mug — to rob
  14. key — for a lock
  15. swing — music
  16. race — the arms race
  17. key — in music
  18. coach — a trainer
  19. tear — from crying
  20. swing — in golf
  21. race — a contest
  22. coach — a trainer
  23. mug — a cup
  24. wake — a trail

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