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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: chair · ground · wind · tear · wound · season · trunk · stem

  1. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  2. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  3. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  4. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  5. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  6. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  7. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  8. There's no middle ________________.
  9. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  10. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  11. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  12. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  13. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  14. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  15. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  16. Did you ________________ the meat?
  17. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  18. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  19. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  20. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  21. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  22. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  23. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  24. I've got the luggage in my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. chair — to sit on
  3. trunk — of a tree
  4. tear — to rip
  5. ground — the earth
  6. wind — to turn a key
  7. wind — moving air
  8. ground — a position
  9. tear — from crying
  10. chair — a professorship
  11. tear — from crying
  12. wound — past of 'wind'
  13. stem — to come from
  14. ground — crushed
  15. stem — a stem cell
  16. season — to add flavour
  17. trunk — of an elephant
  18. stem — of a plant
  19. wound — an injury
  20. chair — a leader
  21. wound — an injury
  22. season — of the year
  23. season — in sport
  24. trunk — of a car

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