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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: coach · field · cold · land · ball · ground · shower · net

  1. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  2. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  3. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  4. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  5. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  6. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  9. Have you met the new head ________________?
  10. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  11. The King held a masked ________________.
  12. When are we going to ________________?
  13. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  14. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  15. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  16. There's no middle ________________.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  19. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  20. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. coach — a trainer
  2. field — for sport
  3. ball — a round shape
  4. ground — crushed
  5. ball — a great time
  6. coach — pulled by horses
  7. field — a subject
  8. land — a country
  9. coach — a trainer
  10. shower — to wash
  11. ball — a dance
  12. land — to come down
  13. net — in sport
  14. net — after costs
  15. field — farmland
  16. ground — a position
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. net — for catching
  19. ground — the earth
  20. land — ground
  21. shower — rain
  22. cold — an illness
  23. cold — not warm
  24. shower — a meteor shower

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