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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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  2. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  3. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  4. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  5. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  6. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  7. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  8. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  9. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  10. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  11. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  12. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  13. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  14. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  15. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  16. That was a fun ________________.
  17. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  18. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  19. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  20. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  21. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  22. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  23. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  24. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. drill — a practice
  3. straw — a straw man
  4. drill — army training
  5. chest — a box
  6. straw — dry grass
  7. face — to point toward
  8. face — to confront
  9. chip — to eat
  10. chip — in a computer
  11. game — wild animals
  12. stick — to attach or keep to
  13. field — farmland
  14. chip — for betting
  15. game — a kind of play
  16. game — a match
  17. field — a subject
  18. stick — a piece of wood
  19. straw — to clutch at straws
  20. face — part of the head
  21. drill — the tool
  22. field — for sport
  23. chest — of your body
  24. stick — a piece of wood

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