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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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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. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  2. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  3. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  6. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. That was a fun ________________.
  9. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  10. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  11. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. The King held a masked ________________.
  14. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  15. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  16. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  17. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  18. The ________________ took off on time.
  19. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  20. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  21. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  22. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  23. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  24. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. branch — of a tree
  3. chest — a box
  4. degree — from a university
  5. game — a kind of play
  6. chest — of your body
  7. degree — an amount
  8. game — a match
  9. plane — in geometry
  10. wake — before a funeral
  11. branch — a division
  12. degree — temperature
  13. ball — a dance
  14. plane — a tool
  15. wake — a trail
  16. ball — a round shape
  17. ball — a great time
  18. plane — an aircraft
  19. shower — rain
  20. wake — to stop sleeping
  21. game — wild animals
  22. branch — of a bank
  23. shower — to wash
  24. shower — a meteor shower

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