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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: chair · bear · staff · kid · file · shower · wound · club

  1. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  2. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  3. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  4. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  5. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  6. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  7. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  8. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  9. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  10. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  11. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  12. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  15. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  16. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  17. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  18. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  19. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  20. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  21. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  22. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  23. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  24. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.

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

Answer key

  1. bear — the animal
  2. club — a group
  3. shower — rain
  4. chair — a professorship
  5. bear — to put up with
  6. file — a tool
  7. file — a document
  8. club — for dancing
  9. shower — a meteor shower
  10. club — for golf
  11. file — a line of people
  12. wound — an injury
  13. kid — child
  14. chair — a leader
  15. shower — to wash
  16. bear — the animal
  17. kid — to tease
  18. wound — past of 'wind'
  19. staff — employees
  20. staff — a stick
  21. chair — to sit on
  22. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  23. wound — an injury
  24. staff — employees

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