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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: hand · coach · cabinet · present · degree · cold · ball · straw

  1. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. What do you think of the new ________________?
  4. The King held a masked ________________.
  5. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  6. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  7. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  10. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  11. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. Have you met the new head ________________?
  14. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  15. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  16. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  17. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  18. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  19. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  20. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  21. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. degree — from a university
  3. cabinet — ministers
  4. ball — a dance
  5. straw — to clutch at straws
  6. present — there
  7. coach — pulled by horses
  8. cold — not warm
  9. ball — a great time
  10. present — the time now
  11. hand — help
  12. cold — an illness
  13. coach — a trainer
  14. present — a gift
  15. cabinet — a cupboard
  16. straw — dry grass
  17. hand — part of the body
  18. ball — a round shape
  19. hand — in cards
  20. coach — a trainer
  21. cabinet — ministers
  22. degree — temperature
  23. straw — a straw man
  24. cold — the Cold War

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