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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: club · land · stem · wind · net · wake · scale · chair

  1. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  2. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  3. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  4. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  5. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  6. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  7. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  8. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  9. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  10. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  11. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  12. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  13. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  14. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  15. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  16. When are we going to ________________?
  17. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  18. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  19. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  20. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  21. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  22. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  23. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  24. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. club — for golf
  3. land — ground
  4. wake — a trail
  5. wake — to stop sleeping
  6. stem — to come from
  7. net — after costs
  8. chair — a professorship
  9. chair — a leader
  10. stem — a stem cell
  11. wind — moving air
  12. net — in sport
  13. club — a group
  14. wind — to turn a key
  15. scale — for weighing
  16. land — to come down
  17. land — a country
  18. net — for catching
  19. scale — in music
  20. chair — to sit on
  21. stem — of a plant
  22. scale — size or range
  23. wake — before a funeral
  24. club — for dancing

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