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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: chest · rest · arm · straw · wind · pitch · face · date

  1. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  2. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  3. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  4. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  5. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  6. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  7. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  8. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  9. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  10. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  11. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  12. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  13. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  14. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  15. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  16. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  17. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  18. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  19. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  20. My father caught me by the ________________.
  21. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  22. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  23. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  24. Have you settled on a ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. date — on the calendar
  2. arm — a part of something
  3. wind — moving air
  4. chest — of your body
  5. rest — what's left
  6. face — to point toward
  7. rest — a break
  8. chest — a box
  9. pitch — completely
  10. face — to confront
  11. date — the fruit
  12. wind — moving air
  13. pitch — a sports field
  14. chest — of your body
  15. wind — to turn a key
  16. pitch — a sales talk
  17. straw — dry grass
  18. face — part of the head
  19. arm — part of the body
  20. arm — part of the body
  21. rest — what's left
  22. straw — to clutch at straws
  23. straw — a straw man
  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