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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: straw · hand · wake · march · coach · chair · season · file

  1. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  2. Have you met the new head ________________?
  3. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  4. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  5. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  6. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  7. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  8. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  9. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  10. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  11. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  12. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  13. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  14. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  15. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  16. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  17. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  18. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  19. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  20. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  21. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  22. Did you ________________ the meat?
  23. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  24. I got dealt a bad ________________.

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. coach — pulled by horses
  4. chair — a leader
  5. march — the month
  6. straw — to clutch at straws
  7. hand — help
  8. file — a tool
  9. wake — to stop sleeping
  10. wake — a trail
  11. wake — before a funeral
  12. march — music
  13. file — a document
  14. season — in sport
  15. season — of the year
  16. hand — part of the body
  17. coach — a trainer
  18. straw — dry grass
  19. file — a line of people
  20. march — the month
  21. straw — a straw man
  22. season — to add flavour
  23. chair — a professorship
  24. hand — in cards

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