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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: chest · face · roll · straw · bass · degree · prune · hand

  1. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  2. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  3. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  4. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  5. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  6. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  9. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  10. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  11. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  12. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  13. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  14. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  15. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  16. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  17. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  20. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  23. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  24. We're on a ________________ here.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — a box
  2. straw — a straw man
  3. hand — help
  4. bass — the fish
  5. face — to confront
  6. chest — of your body
  7. degree — from a university
  8. prune — the fruit
  9. straw — dry grass
  10. chest — of your body
  11. hand — in cards
  12. straw — to clutch at straws
  13. prune — to trim
  14. hand — part of the body
  15. roll — a cake
  16. face — to point toward
  17. bass — low music
  18. degree — temperature
  19. bass — the instrument
  20. prune — to trim
  21. degree — an amount
  22. face — part of the head
  23. roll — a list
  24. roll — on a roll

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