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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. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  3. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  4. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  5. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  8. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  9. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  12. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  13. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  16. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  17. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  18. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  19. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  20. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  23. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  24. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. straw — dry grass
  3. straw — a straw man
  4. prune — to trim
  5. stem — to come from
  6. bat — the animal
  7. chest — a box
  8. chest — of your body
  9. cap — a lid
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. face — to point toward
  12. stem — a stem cell
  13. stem — of a plant
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. degree — from a university
  16. prune — the fruit
  17. straw — to clutch at straws
  18. prune — to trim
  19. cap — of ice
  20. face — part of the head
  21. degree — temperature
  22. face — to confront
  23. cap — a hat
  24. degree — an amount

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