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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
468
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: leaves · stem · field · chest · straw · wound · capital · shower

  1. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  4. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  9. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  12. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  13. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  16. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  17. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  18. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  19. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  20. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  21. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  22. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. The ________________ change colour in autumn.

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

Answer key

  1. leaves — to go away
  2. field — farmland
  3. wound — an injury
  4. capital — a city
  5. capital — money
  6. straw — to clutch at straws
  7. field — a subject
  8. stem — a stem cell
  9. straw — dry grass
  10. chest — a box
  11. shower — to wash
  12. shower — rain
  13. straw — a straw man
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. leaves — lets stay
  16. stem — to come from
  17. chest — of your body
  18. chest — of your body
  19. wound — past of 'wind'
  20. shower — a meteor shower
  21. wound — an injury
  22. stem — of a plant
  23. field — for sport
  24. leaves — of a tree

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