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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: shower · firm · ground · perch · chair · capital · field · charge

  1. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  2. The tickets are free of ________________.
  3. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  4. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  5. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  6. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  7. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  8. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  9. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  10. There's no middle ________________.
  11. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  12. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  13. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  14. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  15. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  16. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  17. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  18. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  19. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  20. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  23. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  24. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a professorship
  2. charge — a price
  3. chair — a leader
  4. firm — decided
  5. capital — a city
  6. firm — steady
  7. chair — to sit on
  8. perch — for a bird
  9. firm — a company
  10. ground — a position
  11. charge — electricity
  12. perch — for a bird
  13. perch — the fish
  14. shower — a meteor shower
  15. shower — to wash
  16. ground — crushed
  17. field — for sport
  18. capital — a big letter
  19. field — a subject
  20. charge — in control
  21. shower — rain
  22. capital — money
  23. ground — the earth
  24. field — farmland

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