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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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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: file · pound · pop · chest · cold · lean · shower · chair

  1. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  2. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  3. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  4. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  5. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  8. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  9. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  10. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  11. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  14. We're almost out of ________________.
  15. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  16. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  17. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  18. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  19. You don't need to ________________ round.
  20. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  21. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  22. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  23. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — to bend
  2. lean — to rest against
  3. file — a line of people
  4. shower — rain
  5. pop — music
  6. cold — not warm
  7. chest — of your body
  8. file — a document
  9. shower — a meteor shower
  10. chair — a professorship
  11. pound — a weight
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. chest — of your body
  14. pop — soda
  15. chair — a leader
  16. chest — a box
  17. shower — to wash
  18. lean — thin
  19. pop — to visit
  20. chair — to sit on
  21. file — a tool
  22. pound — for dogs
  23. pound — to hit hard
  24. cold — an illness

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