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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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Word bank
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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: snap · chest · current · straw · bat · stick · land · face

  1. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  2. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  3. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  4. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  5. When are we going to ________________?
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  8. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  11. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  12. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  13. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  14. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  15. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  16. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  17. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  18. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  19. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  20. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  21. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  22. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  23. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  24. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. current — electric
  2. land — a country
  3. chest — of your body
  4. snap — to click
  5. land — to come down
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. chest — a box
  8. stick — a piece of wood
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. bat — the animal
  11. straw — to clutch at straws
  12. stick — to attach or keep to
  13. face — to confront
  14. face — to point toward
  15. straw — dry grass
  16. snap — to snap out of it
  17. straw — a straw man
  18. current — happening now
  19. snap — to speak sharply
  20. current — of water
  21. face — part of the head
  22. chest — of your body
  23. land — ground
  24. stick — a piece of wood

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