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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 116 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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Word bank
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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 · lie · wind · degree · bound · field · shower · wound

  1. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  2. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  5. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  6. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  7. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  8. That was ________________ to happen.
  9. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  10. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  11. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  12. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  13. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  14. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  15. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  16. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  19. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  20. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  21. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  22. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  23. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  24. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.

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

Answer key

  1. field — for sport
  2. field — a subject
  3. degree — from a university
  4. shower — a meteor shower
  5. wound — an injury
  6. wind — to turn a key
  7. wind — moving air
  8. bound — certain
  9. shower — rain
  10. chair — a professorship
  11. bound — tied together
  12. lie — an untruth
  13. degree — an amount
  14. lie — to recline
  15. field — farmland
  16. wound — past of 'wind'
  17. degree — temperature
  18. wind — moving air
  19. chair — to sit on
  20. chair — a leader
  21. lie — an untruth
  22. bound — obliged
  23. shower — to wash
  24. wound — an injury

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