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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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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 · kid · hand · field · rock · chip · game · wound

  1. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  3. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  4. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  5. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  6. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  7. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  8. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  9. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  10. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  11. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  14. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  15. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  16. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  17. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  18. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  19. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  20. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  21. That was a fun ________________.
  22. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  23. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  24. There's a computer ________________ on the table.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. field — for sport
  3. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  4. rock — a stone
  5. shower — a meteor shower
  6. shower — rain
  7. chip — for betting
  8. kid — child
  9. hand — part of the body
  10. kid — to tease
  11. field — farmland
  12. field — a subject
  13. rock — music
  14. chip — to eat
  15. wound — an injury
  16. wound — past of 'wind'
  17. game — a kind of play
  18. rock — to move gently
  19. wound — an injury
  20. game — wild animals
  21. game — a match
  22. hand — in cards
  23. hand — help
  24. chip — in a computer

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