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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: spring · lean · fall · degree · chair · field · land · straw

  1. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  2. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  3. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  4. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  7. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  8. When are we going to ________________?
  9. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  10. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  11. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  12. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  15. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  18. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  19. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  20. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  21. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  22. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  23. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  24. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — to rest against
  2. fall — to drop
  3. chair — a leader
  4. lean — to bend
  5. field — farmland
  6. fall — to drop
  7. chair — to sit on
  8. land — to come down
  9. field — for sport
  10. fall — the season
  11. land — a country
  12. straw — to clutch at straws
  13. degree — from a university
  14. degree — an amount
  15. lean — thin
  16. degree — temperature
  17. spring — the season
  18. chair — a professorship
  19. spring — a coil
  20. field — a subject
  21. land — ground
  22. spring — of water
  23. straw — dry grass
  24. straw — a straw man

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