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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: cold · field · drill · game · hand · stand · degree · craft

  1. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. I can't ________________ this cold.
  3. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  8. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  9. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  10. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  13. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  14. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  15. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  16. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  17. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  18. That was a fun ________________.
  19. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  22. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  23. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  24. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. stand — to bear
  3. craft — a handicraft
  4. cold — not warm
  5. hand — in cards
  6. field — farmland
  7. stand — on your feet
  8. hand — help
  9. field — for sport
  10. degree — an amount
  11. degree — temperature
  12. game — a kind of play
  13. stand — for spectators
  14. field — a subject
  15. drill — a practice
  16. hand — part of the body
  17. craft — a skill
  18. game — a match
  19. game — wild animals
  20. cold — an illness
  21. drill — the tool
  22. degree — from a university
  23. drill — army training
  24. craft — boats

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