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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: ground · wind · race · rule · chest · shower · spell · chair

  1. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  2. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  3. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  4. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  5. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  6. There's no middle ________________.
  7. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  8. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  9. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  10. How do you ________________ your surname?
  11. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  12. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  13. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  14. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  15. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  16. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  17. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  18. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  19. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  20. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  21. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  22. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  23. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  24. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. rule — a law
  3. race — humankind
  4. chair — a leader
  5. chest — of your body
  6. ground — a position
  7. shower — to wash
  8. wind — moving air
  9. race — the arms race
  10. spell — letters
  11. chair — a professorship
  12. shower — rain
  13. wind — moving air
  14. chest — a box
  15. wind — to turn a key
  16. ground — crushed
  17. race — a contest
  18. chair — to sit on
  19. spell — magic
  20. spell — a short time
  21. rule — government
  22. rule — to rule out
  23. ground — the earth
  24. shower — a meteor shower

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