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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 · bear · mark · ground · firm · field · shower · hand

  1. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  2. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  3. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  6. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  7. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  8. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  9. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  10. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  11. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  12. There's no middle ________________.
  13. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  14. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  15. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  16. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  17. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  18. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  21. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  22. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  23. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  24. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a professorship
  2. bear — to put up with
  3. firm — steady
  4. field — farmland
  5. firm — a company
  6. hand — in cards
  7. chair — to sit on
  8. hand — help
  9. shower — to wash
  10. ground — the earth
  11. shower — rain
  12. ground — a position
  13. bear — the animal
  14. ground — crushed
  15. chair — a leader
  16. field — a subject
  17. shower — a meteor shower
  18. bear — the animal
  19. field — for sport
  20. firm — decided
  21. mark — to pay attention
  22. hand — part of the body
  23. mark — a grade
  24. mark — a trace

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