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

Word bank: bear · degree · plane · tear · chest · band

  1. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  2. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  3. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  4. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  5. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  8. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  9. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  10. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  11. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  12. The ________________ took off on time.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  15. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  16. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  17. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  18. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a music group
  2. plane — in geometry
  3. chest — of your body
  4. plane — a tool
  5. band — a rubber band
  6. degree — from a university
  7. bear — the animal
  8. bear — to put up with
  9. chest — of your body
  10. tear — from crying
  11. band — a ring
  12. plane — an aircraft
  13. degree — temperature
  14. chest — a box
  15. bear — the animal
  16. degree — an amount
  17. tear — from crying
  18. tear — to rip

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