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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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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: court · tear · swing · lash · rock · coach · bound · cold

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  3. Have you met the new head ________________?
  4. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  5. The ball is in your ________________.
  6. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  7. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  8. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  9. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  10. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. That was ________________ to happen.
  13. David sat on the ________________.
  14. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  15. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  16. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  17. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  18. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  21. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  22. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  23. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  24. The spa offers ________________ extensions.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. court — of law
  3. coach — a trainer
  4. rock — to move gently
  5. court — for sport
  6. lash — a whip stroke
  7. swing — in golf
  8. coach — a trainer
  9. court — of a king
  10. bound — tied together
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. bound — certain
  13. swing — to play on
  14. tear — to rip
  15. lash — to lash out
  16. rock — a stone
  17. bound — obliged
  18. tear — from crying
  19. cold — an illness
  20. swing — music
  21. tear — from crying
  22. coach — pulled by horses
  23. rock — music
  24. lash — an eyelash

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