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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: shower · date · craft · land · face · pitch · stock · chest

  1. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  2. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  3. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  4. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  5. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  6. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  7. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  8. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  9. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  10. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  11. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  12. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  13. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  14. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  15. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  16. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  17. The ________________ market has crashed.
  18. When are we going to ________________?
  19. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  20. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  21. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  22. Have you settled on a ________________?
  23. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  24. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. face — to point toward
  3. shower — to wash
  4. land — ground
  5. craft — a skill
  6. pitch — a sports field
  7. chest — of your body
  8. craft — boats
  9. face — to confront
  10. pitch — completely
  11. face — part of the head
  12. craft — a handicraft
  13. date — the fruit
  14. chest — a box
  15. stock — goods
  16. land — a country
  17. stock — shares
  18. land — to come down
  19. stock — a soup base
  20. date — on the calendar
  21. pitch — a sales talk
  22. date — on the calendar
  23. shower — rain
  24. shower — a meteor shower

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