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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: wind · shower · land · nail · press · ground · plane · stem

  1. There's no middle ________________.
  2. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  3. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  4. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  5. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  6. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  7. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  8. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  9. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  10. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  11. The ________________ took off on time.
  12. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  13. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  14. When are we going to ________________?
  15. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  16. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  17. Did you ________________ the button?
  18. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  19. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  20. The ________________ went through the wall.
  21. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  22. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  23. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  24. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — a position
  2. shower — a meteor shower
  3. nail — for a hammer
  4. nail — on a finger
  5. wind — moving air
  6. plane — a tool
  7. stem — of a plant
  8. shower — to wash
  9. shower — rain
  10. land — a country
  11. plane — an aircraft
  12. press — a publisher
  13. stem — a stem cell
  14. land — to come down
  15. ground — crushed
  16. wind — to turn a key
  17. press — to push
  18. plane — in geometry
  19. ground — the earth
  20. nail — for a hammer
  21. press — newspapers
  22. stem — to come from
  23. wind — moving air
  24. land — ground

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