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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 120 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: band · stem · face · degree · ruler · straw · row · tear

  1. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  2. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  3. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  4. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  5. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  6. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  7. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  8. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  11. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  12. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  13. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  14. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  15. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  16. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  17. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  18. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  19. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  20. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  21. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  22. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  23. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  24. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to confront
  2. stem — to come from
  3. band — a rubber band
  4. tear — from crying
  5. straw — a straw man
  6. row — a line
  7. stem — a stem cell
  8. band — a ring
  9. degree — temperature
  10. face — to point toward
  11. stem — of a plant
  12. ruler — for measuring
  13. tear — to rip
  14. degree — an amount
  15. row — to paddle
  16. face — part of the head
  17. row — a quarrel
  18. ruler — a monarch
  19. straw — to clutch at straws
  20. tear — from crying
  21. band — a music group
  22. degree — from a university
  23. straw — dry grass
  24. ruler — for measuring

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