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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 120 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: key · root · field · chest · shower · staff · ground · wind

  1. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  2. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  3. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  4. This piece is in a major ________________.
  5. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  9. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  14. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  15. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  16. There's no middle ________________.
  17. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  18. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  19. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  20. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  23. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  24. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.

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

Answer key

  1. staff — a stick
  2. ground — the earth
  3. chest — of your body
  4. key — in music
  5. staff — employees
  6. field — farmland
  7. field — a subject
  8. staff — employees
  9. shower — rain
  10. chest — a box
  11. shower — a meteor shower
  12. chest — of your body
  13. wind — moving air
  14. root — of a word
  15. wind — moving air
  16. ground — a position
  17. wind — to turn a key
  18. ground — crushed
  19. key — for a lock
  20. root — the cause
  21. field — for sport
  22. key — the most important part
  23. shower — to wash
  24. root — of a plant

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