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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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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: chair · cabinet · shower · wind · stick · field · ground · drill

  1. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  2. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  4. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  5. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  6. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  7. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  10. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  11. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  12. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  13. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  14. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  15. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  16. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  17. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  18. There's no middle ________________.
  19. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  20. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  21. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  22. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  23. What do you think of the new ________________?
  24. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.

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

Answer key

  1. stick — a piece of wood
  2. field — a subject
  3. wind — to turn a key
  4. chair — to sit on
  5. stick — a piece of wood
  6. shower — to wash
  7. chair — a leader
  8. field — farmland
  9. shower — a meteor shower
  10. cabinet — ministers
  11. ground — the earth
  12. stick — to attach or keep to
  13. wind — moving air
  14. shower — rain
  15. cabinet — a cupboard
  16. drill — the tool
  17. chair — a professorship
  18. ground — a position
  19. wind — moving air
  20. field — for sport
  21. drill — a practice
  22. ground — crushed
  23. cabinet — ministers
  24. drill — army training

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