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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 116 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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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  3. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  4. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  5. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  6. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  7. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  10. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  11. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  12. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  13. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  14. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  15. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  16. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  17. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  18. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  21. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  22. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  23. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  24. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. wax — for sculpting
  3. chair — a leader
  4. chair — to sit on
  5. shower — rain
  6. club — a group
  7. straw — dry grass
  8. field — a subject
  9. mouse — the animal
  10. stem — a stem cell
  11. mouse — the animal
  12. mouse — for a computer
  13. stem — to come from
  14. chair — a professorship
  15. wax — to grow
  16. straw — a straw man
  17. shower — a meteor shower
  18. wax — in the ear
  19. field — farmland
  20. field — for sport
  21. straw — to clutch at straws
  22. club — for dancing
  23. club — for golf
  24. stem — of a plant

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