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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: chest · roll · kick · content · club · face · safe · degree

  1. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. We're on a ________________ here.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  5. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  6. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  7. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  8. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  9. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  10. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  11. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  12. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  13. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  14. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  15. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  16. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  17. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  18. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  19. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  20. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  21. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  22. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. roll — on a roll
  3. degree — from a university
  4. safe — a strongbox
  5. content — videos and posts
  6. roll — a list
  7. chest — of your body
  8. safe — out of danger
  9. kick — with a leg
  10. club — for golf
  11. face — part of the head
  12. kick — a thrill
  13. content — the amount
  14. face — to point toward
  15. degree — an amount
  16. kick — in football
  17. face — to confront
  18. club — for dancing
  19. chest — a box
  20. chest — of your body
  21. roll — a cake
  22. safe — out of danger
  23. degree — temperature
  24. club — a group

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