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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: track · game · cold · stand · wind · coach · degree · face

  1. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  2. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  3. I can't ________________ this cold.
  4. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  5. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  6. Have you met the new head ________________?
  7. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  10. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  13. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. That was a fun ________________.
  16. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  17. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  18. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  19. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  20. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  23. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  24. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — to turn a key
  2. face — part of the head
  3. stand — to bear
  4. face — to confront
  5. track — to keep track
  6. coach — a trainer
  7. game — a kind of play
  8. cold — not warm
  9. face — to point toward
  10. degree — an amount
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. wind — moving air
  13. track — a path
  14. cold — an illness
  15. game — a match
  16. stand — on your feet
  17. track — a song
  18. coach — pulled by horses
  19. degree — from a university
  20. game — wild animals
  21. degree — temperature
  22. stand — for spectators
  23. wind — moving air
  24. coach — a trainer

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