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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: rest · face · kid · degree · chair · wind · land · chip

  1. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  2. When are we going to ________________?
  3. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  4. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  5. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  6. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  9. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  10. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  11. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  12. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  13. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  14. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  15. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  16. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  17. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  19. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  20. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  21. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  22. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  23. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  24. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.

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

Answer key

  1. face — part of the head
  2. land — to come down
  3. face — to point toward
  4. land — a country
  5. chip — in a computer
  6. face — to confront
  7. degree — temperature
  8. wind — moving air
  9. chip — for betting
  10. land — ground
  11. rest — what's left
  12. rest — what's left
  13. wind — to turn a key
  14. chair — to sit on
  15. chair — a professorship
  16. kid — child
  17. wind — moving air
  18. degree — from a university
  19. degree — an amount
  20. chip — to eat
  21. kid — to tease
  22. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  23. rest — a break
  24. chair — a leader

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