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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: stem · chair · fall · kick · field · wound · jam · bat

  1. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  4. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  5. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  8. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  9. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  10. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  14. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  15. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  16. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  17. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  18. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  19. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  20. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  21. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  22. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  23. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  24. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. field — farmland
  3. stem — of a plant
  4. chair — a leader
  5. kick — a thrill
  6. bat — the animal
  7. jam — to spread on bread
  8. chair — a professorship
  9. chair — to sit on
  10. kick — with a leg
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. wound — past of 'wind'
  14. kick — in football
  15. jam — in traffic
  16. field — a subject
  17. jam — a tight spot
  18. fall — to drop
  19. stem — a stem cell
  20. field — for sport
  21. fall — to drop
  22. wound — an injury
  23. stem — to come from
  24. fall — the season

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