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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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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: kid · current · wake · field · net · swing · chest · chair

  1. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  3. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  4. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  5. David sat on the ________________.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  8. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  9. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  10. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  11. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  12. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  13. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  14. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  15. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  16. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  17. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  18. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  19. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  20. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  23. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  24. Let us try to swim against the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. chair — a professorship
  3. kid — to tease
  4. wake — before a funeral
  5. swing — to play on
  6. field — a subject
  7. kid — child
  8. current — electric
  9. swing — music
  10. wake — to stop sleeping
  11. current — happening now
  12. swing — in golf
  13. chair — a leader
  14. chest — of your body
  15. chest — a box
  16. chest — of your body
  17. net — for catching
  18. wake — a trail
  19. net — after costs
  20. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  21. field — for sport
  22. net — in sport
  23. chair — to sit on
  24. current — of water

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