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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 · tear · root · shower · kick · saw · coach · bat

  1. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  2. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  3. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  4. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  5. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  6. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  7. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. Have you met the new head ________________?
  10. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  11. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  12. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  13. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  14. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  15. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  16. She's very handy with a ________________.
  17. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  18. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  19. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  20. He works in a ________________ mill.
  21. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  22. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — to sit on
  2. kick — with a leg
  3. root — of a word
  4. chair — a leader
  5. chair — a professorship
  6. coach — pulled by horses
  7. tear — to rip
  8. bat — the animal
  9. coach — a trainer
  10. tear — from crying
  11. shower — rain
  12. root — the cause
  13. kick — a thrill
  14. shower — a meteor shower
  15. kick — in football
  16. saw — the tool
  17. root — of a plant
  18. saw — past of 'see'
  19. bat — in an idiom
  20. saw — the tool
  21. tear — from crying
  22. shower — to wash
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. coach — a trainer

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