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

Word bank: chair · content · race · present · shower · club

  1. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  2. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  3. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  4. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  5. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  6. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  7. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  8. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  9. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  10. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  11. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  12. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  13. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  14. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  15. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  16. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  17. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  18. We took cover from the thunder ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. present — a gift
  2. race — humankind
  3. chair — a professorship
  4. content — videos and posts
  5. club — for golf
  6. present — there
  7. chair — a leader
  8. race — the arms race
  9. race — a contest
  10. shower — a meteor shower
  11. content — the amount
  12. content — happy
  13. club — for dancing
  14. club — a group
  15. present — the time now
  16. shower — to wash
  17. chair — to sit on
  18. shower — rain

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