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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: cell · chest · face · last · race · stock · object · band

  1. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  2. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  3. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  4. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  5. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  6. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  7. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  8. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  9. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  10. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  11. He was locked up in a ________________.
  12. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  13. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  14. The ________________ market has crashed.
  15. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  16. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  17. False peace will not ________________.
  18. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  19. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  20. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  21. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  22. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  23. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  24. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.

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

Answer key

  1. last — finally
  2. object — a thing
  3. band — a music group
  4. stock — a soup base
  5. object — to protest
  6. cell — in biology
  7. face — to confront
  8. race — a contest
  9. object — an aim
  10. cell — a phone
  11. cell — in a prison
  12. band — a ring
  13. race — humankind
  14. stock — shares
  15. chest — of your body
  16. race — the arms race
  17. last — to go on
  18. stock — goods
  19. last — final
  20. face — to point toward
  21. chest — of your body
  22. face — part of the head
  23. band — a rubber band
  24. chest — a box

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