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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: lean · coach · ball · cold · degree · last · cap · leaves

  1. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  4. Have you met the new head ________________?
  5. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  6. The King held a masked ________________.
  7. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  8. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  9. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  10. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  11. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  14. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. False peace will not ________________.
  17. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  18. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  19. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  20. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  23. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  24. The kitten curled into a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — thin
  2. cold — not warm
  3. last — final
  4. coach — a trainer
  5. lean — to rest against
  6. ball — a dance
  7. leaves — lets stay
  8. cap — a lid
  9. degree — from a university
  10. leaves — to go away
  11. leaves — of a tree
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. degree — an amount
  14. coach — a trainer
  15. cold — an illness
  16. last — to go on
  17. ball — a great time
  18. cap — of ice
  19. last — finally
  20. coach — pulled by horses
  21. degree — temperature
  22. cap — a hat
  23. lean — to bend
  24. ball — a round shape

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