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

  1. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  4. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  5. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  6. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  7. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  8. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  9. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  10. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  11. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  12. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  13. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  14. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  17. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  18. Did you ________________ the button?
  19. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  20. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  21. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  22. He was locked up in a ________________.
  23. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  24. We ________________ up on opposing sides.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. field — farmland
  3. vault — in gymnastics
  4. wound — an injury
  5. chair — a leader
  6. snap — to snap out of it
  7. shower — a meteor shower
  8. snap — to click
  9. cell — a phone
  10. chair — a professorship
  11. vault — a safe
  12. shower — rain
  13. cell — in biology
  14. vault — an arched ceiling
  15. field — for sport
  16. snap — to speak sharply
  17. press — a publisher
  18. press — to push
  19. wound — an injury
  20. press — newspapers
  21. chair — to sit on
  22. cell — in a prison
  23. field — a subject
  24. wound — past of 'wind'

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