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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
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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: clip · chair · coach · net · spring · field · mine · calf

  1. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  2. Have you met the new head ________________?
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  7. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  8. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  11. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  12. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  13. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  20. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  21. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  22. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  23. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  24. The flowers bloom in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — to sit on
  2. coach — a trainer
  3. spring — a coil
  4. net — in sport
  5. clip — for paper
  6. mine — belonging to me
  7. mine — for digging
  8. net — for catching
  9. field — a subject
  10. chair — a professorship
  11. spring — of water
  12. coach — a trainer
  13. coach — pulled by horses
  14. clip — to cut
  15. calf — a young animal
  16. field — for sport
  17. calf — a young animal
  18. clip — a video
  19. chair — a leader
  20. field — farmland
  21. mine — an explosive
  22. calf — of the leg
  23. net — after costs
  24. spring — the season

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