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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
468
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: deal · coach · ball · present · straw · cold · field · spell

  1. How do you ________________ your surname?
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  6. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  7. The King held a masked ________________.
  8. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  9. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  10. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  11. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  12. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  13. Have you met the new head ________________?
  14. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  15. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  16. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  17. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  18. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  23. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  24. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — letters
  2. field — farmland
  3. coach — a trainer
  4. cold — an illness
  5. ball — a great time
  6. deal — to handle
  7. ball — a dance
  8. present — there
  9. coach — pulled by horses
  10. field — a subject
  11. present — the time now
  12. spell — a short time
  13. coach — a trainer
  14. field — for sport
  15. spell — magic
  16. present — a gift
  17. straw — a straw man
  18. ball — a round shape
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. straw — dry grass
  21. cold — not warm
  22. deal — a big deal
  23. straw — to clutch at straws
  24. deal — an agreement

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