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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: face · drill · chair · degree · chest · rule

  1. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  2. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  3. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  4. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  5. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  8. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  9. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  13. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  14. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  15. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  16. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  17. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  18. 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. chair — a professorship
  2. rule — to rule out
  3. chair — a leader
  4. chair — to sit on
  5. face — part of the head
  6. degree — from a university
  7. rule — a law
  8. face — to confront
  9. chest — of your body
  10. chest — a box
  11. degree — temperature
  12. rule — government
  13. drill — a practice
  14. drill — army training
  15. face — to point toward
  16. chest — of your body
  17. drill — the tool
  18. 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