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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: degree · face · coach · cold · game · board · deal · net

  1. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  2. Have you met the new head ________________?
  3. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  4. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  5. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  9. That was a fun ________________.
  10. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  11. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  12. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  13. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  14. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  15. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  16. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  19. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  20. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  21. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  22. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to point toward
  2. coach — a trainer
  3. board — a flat piece
  4. net — after costs
  5. deal — to handle
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. cold — not warm
  8. face — part of the head
  9. game — a match
  10. degree — an amount
  11. board — to get on
  12. deal — an agreement
  13. coach — a trainer
  14. coach — pulled by horses
  15. degree — from a university
  16. deal — a big deal
  17. degree — temperature
  18. board — a committee
  19. net — in sport
  20. net — for catching
  21. game — a kind of play
  22. game — wild animals
  23. cold — an illness
  24. face — to confront

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