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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 · degree · wound · season · track · jam · coach · clip

  1. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  2. Did you ________________ the meat?
  3. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  9. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  10. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  11. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  12. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  15. Have you met the new head ________________?
  16. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  19. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  20. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  21. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  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. season — of the year
  2. season — to add flavour
  3. degree — temperature
  4. cold — not warm
  5. clip — to cut
  6. wound — past of 'wind'
  7. cold — an illness
  8. season — in sport
  9. track — a path
  10. track — to keep track
  11. coach — pulled by horses
  12. wound — an injury
  13. clip — for paper
  14. jam — in traffic
  15. coach — a trainer
  16. degree — an amount
  17. clip — a video
  18. jam — a tight spot
  19. track — a song
  20. wound — an injury
  21. degree — from a university
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. jam — to spread on bread
  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