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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 120 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: coach · band · capital · straw · field · track · ground · bat

  1. Have you met the new head ________________?
  2. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  3. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  4. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  5. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  6. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  7. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  11. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  12. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  13. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  16. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  17. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  18. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  19. There's no middle ________________.
  20. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  21. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  24. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?

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

Answer key

  1. coach — a trainer
  2. straw — dry grass
  3. track — a song
  4. track — to keep track
  5. band — a rubber band
  6. bat — for baseball
  7. track — a path
  8. field — for sport
  9. field — farmland
  10. field — a subject
  11. band — a ring
  12. coach — a trainer
  13. band — a music group
  14. bat — the animal
  15. capital — a big letter
  16. ground — the earth
  17. ground — crushed
  18. straw — to clutch at straws
  19. ground — a position
  20. capital — a city
  21. straw — a straw man
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. capital — money
  24. coach — pulled by horses

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