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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 · chair · degree · swing · ground · lie · straw · field

  1. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  2. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  3. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  4. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  5. David sat on the ________________.
  6. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  7. There's no middle ________________.
  8. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  14. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  15. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  16. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  17. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  18. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  19. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  20. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  21. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  22. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  23. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  24. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. swing — in golf
  2. chair — a professorship
  3. ground — crushed
  4. shower — to wash
  5. swing — to play on
  6. straw — dry grass
  7. ground — a position
  8. lie — an untruth
  9. degree — an amount
  10. degree — temperature
  11. straw — a straw man
  12. degree — from a university
  13. straw — to clutch at straws
  14. chair — to sit on
  15. lie — an untruth
  16. field — farmland
  17. field — a subject
  18. ground — the earth
  19. shower — rain
  20. shower — a meteor shower
  21. lie — to recline
  22. swing — music
  23. chair — a leader
  24. field — for sport

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