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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
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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: firm · shower · scale · root · chest · clip · field · object

  1. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  2. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  7. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  8. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  9. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  12. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  13. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  14. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  15. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  16. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  17. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  18. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  19. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  20. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  21. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  22. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  23. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. object — to protest
  2. shower — to wash
  3. chest — of your body
  4. chest — a box
  5. clip — to cut
  6. firm — a company
  7. scale — for weighing
  8. firm — steady
  9. object — an aim
  10. clip — a video
  11. object — a thing
  12. field — for sport
  13. firm — decided
  14. field — farmland
  15. root — the cause
  16. shower — rain
  17. field — a subject
  18. shower — a meteor shower
  19. scale — in music
  20. scale — size or range
  21. root — of a plant
  22. chest — of your body
  23. root — of a word
  24. clip — for paper

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