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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: plane · temple · cell · row · straw · chest · calf · cold

  1. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  2. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  5. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  8. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  9. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  10. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  11. He was locked up in a ________________.
  12. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  13. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  14. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  15. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  16. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  17. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  18. The ________________ took off on time.
  19. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  22. When was this ________________ built?
  23. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  24. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!

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

Answer key

  1. row — a quarrel
  2. temple — side of the head
  3. cold — an illness
  4. straw — a straw man
  5. chest — a box
  6. cold — not warm
  7. chest — of your body
  8. cell — in biology
  9. straw — dry grass
  10. row — to paddle
  11. cell — in a prison
  12. row — a line
  13. calf — a young animal
  14. plane — in geometry
  15. temple — a place of worship
  16. calf — a young animal
  17. plane — a tool
  18. plane — an aircraft
  19. straw — to clutch at straws
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. chest — of your body
  22. temple — a place of worship
  23. calf — of the leg
  24. cell — a phone

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