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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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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: shower · field · kid · stem · bound · rash · lean · cell

  1. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  3. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  4. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  5. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  6. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  7. He was locked up in a ________________.
  8. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  9. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  10. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  11. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  12. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  13. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  14. Don't do anything ________________.
  15. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  16. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  19. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  20. That was ________________ to happen.
  21. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  22. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  23. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  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. kid — child
  2. bound — tied together
  3. field — for sport
  4. shower — a meteor shower
  5. lean — to rest against
  6. kid — to tease
  7. cell — in a prison
  8. rash — on the skin
  9. lean — to bend
  10. stem — to come from
  11. shower — rain
  12. bound — obliged
  13. shower — to wash
  14. rash — hasty
  15. stem — a stem cell
  16. field — farmland
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. lean — thin
  19. cell — a phone
  20. bound — certain
  21. cell — in biology
  22. field — a subject
  23. rash — a series
  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