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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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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: file · chair · kid · root · wind · trunk · row · shower

  1. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  2. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  3. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  4. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  5. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  6. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  7. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  8. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  9. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  10. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  11. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  12. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  13. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  14. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  15. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  16. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  17. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  18. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  19. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  20. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  21. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  22. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  23. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  24. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a quarrel
  2. row — a line
  3. chair — a professorship
  4. shower — rain
  5. shower — to wash
  6. chair — to sit on
  7. file — a document
  8. root — of a word
  9. root — of a plant
  10. shower — a meteor shower
  11. trunk — of an elephant
  12. kid — to tease
  13. chair — a leader
  14. wind — moving air
  15. file — a line of people
  16. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  17. trunk — of a tree
  18. wind — to turn a key
  19. wind — moving air
  20. file — a tool
  21. row — to paddle
  22. trunk — of a car
  23. root — the cause
  24. kid — child

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