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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: chair · mark · straw · field · chest · race

  1. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  2. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  3. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  8. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  11. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  12. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  13. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  14. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  15. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  16. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  17. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  18. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — a straw man
  2. chest — of your body
  3. mark — a trace
  4. field — for sport
  5. mark — to pay attention
  6. field — a subject
  7. chest — a box
  8. chair — a professorship
  9. field — farmland
  10. race — a contest
  11. chair — a leader
  12. straw — dry grass
  13. race — the arms race
  14. chair — to sit on
  15. straw — to clutch at straws
  16. mark — a grade
  17. chest — of your body
  18. race — humankind

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