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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: board · ground · degree · coach · field · track · court · straw

  1. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  2. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  7. Have you met the new head ________________?
  8. There's no middle ________________.
  9. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  10. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  11. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  16. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  17. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  18. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  19. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  20. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  23. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  24. The ball is in your ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. track — a path
  2. board — to get on
  3. degree — from a university
  4. board — a committee
  5. field — farmland
  6. track — to keep track
  7. coach — a trainer
  8. ground — a position
  9. ground — crushed
  10. straw — a straw man
  11. coach — pulled by horses
  12. field — a subject
  13. court — of a king
  14. degree — temperature
  15. track — a song
  16. ground — the earth
  17. board — a flat piece
  18. court — of law
  19. coach — a trainer
  20. degree — an amount
  21. field — for sport
  22. straw — to clutch at straws
  23. straw — dry grass
  24. court — for sport

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