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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: shower · net · coach · field · cold · face · scale · temple

  1. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  2. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  3. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  4. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  5. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  6. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  9. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  10. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  11. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  12. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  13. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  14. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  18. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  19. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. When was this ________________ built?
  22. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  23. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  24. Have you met the new head ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. field — for sport
  2. shower — rain
  3. net — after costs
  4. coach — pulled by horses
  5. scale — for weighing
  6. coach — a trainer
  7. field — farmland
  8. net — for catching
  9. face — to point toward
  10. net — in sport
  11. face — to confront
  12. temple — a place of worship
  13. face — part of the head
  14. field — a subject
  15. cold — not warm
  16. cold — an illness
  17. temple — side of the head
  18. scale — in music
  19. shower — a meteor shower
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. temple — a place of worship
  22. scale — size or range
  23. shower — to wash
  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