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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: root · chest · chair · fall · date · degree · branch · face

  1. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  3. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  4. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  5. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  6. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  7. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  8. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  9. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  10. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  13. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  14. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  15. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  16. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  17. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  20. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  21. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  22. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  23. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  24. Have you settled on a ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. root — of a word
  3. root — of a plant
  4. chest — of your body
  5. date — the fruit
  6. chest — of your body
  7. root — the cause
  8. face — to confront
  9. chair — a leader
  10. fall — to drop
  11. degree — an amount
  12. face — part of the head
  13. chest — a box
  14. branch — a division
  15. branch — of a bank
  16. chair — a professorship
  17. branch — of a tree
  18. degree — temperature
  19. fall — the season
  20. fall — to drop
  21. face — to point toward
  22. date — on the calendar
  23. chair — to sit on
  24. date — on the calendar

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