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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: cold · fan · field · straw · march · coach · mark · wound

  1. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  8. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  9. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  13. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  14. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  15. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  16. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  17. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  18. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  19. Have you met the new head ________________?
  20. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  21. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  22. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  23. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  24. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.

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

Answer key

  1. field — for sport
  2. field — farmland
  3. mark — a grade
  4. cold — an illness
  5. fan — to cool the air
  6. cold — not warm
  7. straw — dry grass
  8. straw — to clutch at straws
  9. straw — a straw man
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. field — a subject
  12. march — the month
  13. march — the month
  14. mark — to pay attention
  15. fan — a supporter
  16. wound — past of 'wind'
  17. mark — a trace
  18. wound — an injury
  19. coach — a trainer
  20. coach — a trainer
  21. coach — pulled by horses
  22. fan — a supporter
  23. march — music
  24. wound — an injury

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