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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: march · coach · wound · rush · degree · cold · stock · field

  1. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  2. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  3. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  4. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. Have you met the new head ________________?
  7. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. That must've been a ________________.
  10. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  17. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  21. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  22. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  23. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  24. The ________________ market has crashed.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. wound — an injury
  3. coach — pulled by horses
  4. stock — a soup base
  5. field — a subject
  6. coach — a trainer
  7. march — the month
  8. field — for sport
  9. rush — a thrill
  10. march — the month
  11. cold — an illness
  12. coach — a trainer
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. wound — past of 'wind'
  15. degree — temperature
  16. stock — goods
  17. degree — an amount
  18. cold — not warm
  19. field — farmland
  20. rush — to hurry
  21. degree — from a university
  22. march — music
  23. rush — hurry
  24. stock — shares

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