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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: field · pitcher · chair · row · chest · lean · rule · wound

  1. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  2. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  6. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  7. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  8. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  9. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  10. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  11. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  12. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  13. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  14. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  15. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  16. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  17. He is an ace ________________.
  18. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  19. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  20. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  21. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  22. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  23. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  24. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — thin
  2. field — a subject
  3. chair — to sit on
  4. field — for sport
  5. pitcher — a jug
  6. chest — of your body
  7. wound — past of 'wind'
  8. rule — a law
  9. row — a quarrel
  10. field — farmland
  11. lean — to bend
  12. lean — to rest against
  13. rule — to rule out
  14. row — to paddle
  15. row — a line
  16. chest — of your body
  17. pitcher — in baseball
  18. pitcher — a jug
  19. chest — a box
  20. chair — a professorship
  21. wound — an injury
  22. wound — an injury
  23. rule — government
  24. chair — a leader

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