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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: snap · cell · shower · wound · bowl · field · march · coach

  1. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. Have you met the new head ________________?
  4. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  5. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  6. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  7. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  8. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  9. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  10. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  11. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  12. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  13. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  14. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  15. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  16. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  17. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  18. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  19. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  20. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  21. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  22. He was locked up in a ________________.
  23. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  24. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.

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

Answer key

  1. coach — pulled by horses
  2. field — farmland
  3. coach — a trainer
  4. wound — past of 'wind'
  5. cell — in biology
  6. shower — to wash
  7. bowl — a dish
  8. wound — an injury
  9. snap — to snap out of it
  10. march — the month
  11. field — for sport
  12. march — the month
  13. snap — to speak sharply
  14. snap — to click
  15. bowl — a football final
  16. bowl — to roll
  17. cell — a phone
  18. march — music
  19. shower — rain
  20. field — a subject
  21. shower — a meteor shower
  22. cell — in a prison
  23. coach — a trainer
  24. wound — an injury

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