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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: wound · coach · cap · straw · wind · bowl · rash · march

  1. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  2. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  3. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  4. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  5. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  6. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  7. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  8. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  9. Don't do anything ________________.
  10. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  11. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  12. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  13. Have you met the new head ________________?
  14. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  15. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  16. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  17. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  18. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  19. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  20. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  21. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  22. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  23. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  24. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.

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

Answer key

  1. cap — of ice
  2. wind — moving air
  3. bowl — to roll
  4. coach — pulled by horses
  5. straw — dry grass
  6. march — the month
  7. cap — a lid
  8. bowl — a football final
  9. rash — hasty
  10. rash — a series
  11. rash — on the skin
  12. cap — a hat
  13. coach — a trainer
  14. wind — moving air
  15. bowl — a dish
  16. straw — to clutch at straws
  17. straw — a straw man
  18. wind — to turn a key
  19. wound — past of 'wind'
  20. wound — an injury
  21. wound — an injury
  22. march — the month
  23. coach — a trainer
  24. march — music

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