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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. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  4. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  7. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  8. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  9. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  10. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  11. When are we going to ________________?
  12. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  13. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  14. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  15. The ________________ market has crashed.
  16. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  17. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  18. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  19. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  20. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  21. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  24. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.

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

Answer key

  1. craft — a skill
  2. degree — from a university
  3. chest — of your body
  4. land — ground
  5. degree — an amount
  6. hand — in cards
  7. face — part of the head
  8. hand — help
  9. lean — to rest against
  10. face — to point toward
  11. land — to come down
  12. hand — part of the body
  13. lean — thin
  14. chest — a box
  15. stock — shares
  16. stock — a soup base
  17. face — to confront
  18. craft — a handicraft
  19. chest — of your body
  20. land — a country
  21. craft — boats
  22. degree — temperature
  23. stock — goods
  24. lean — to bend

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