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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: ball · coach · cold · march · field · stand · wound · club

  1. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. I can't ________________ this cold.
  3. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  7. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  8. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  9. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  10. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  13. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. The King held a masked ________________.
  16. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  17. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  18. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  19. Have you met the new head ________________?
  20. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  21. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  22. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  23. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  24. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. stand — to bear
  3. march — the month
  4. cold — an illness
  5. field — for sport
  6. wound — past of 'wind'
  7. wound — an injury
  8. ball — a great time
  9. club — a group
  10. coach — pulled by horses
  11. cold — not warm
  12. club — for dancing
  13. club — for golf
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. ball — a dance
  16. coach — a trainer
  17. wound — an injury
  18. march — the month
  19. coach — a trainer
  20. ball — a round shape
  21. stand — for spectators
  22. march — music
  23. field — a subject
  24. stand — on your feet

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