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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: band · land · chest · stem · key · cell · game · face

  1. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  2. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  3. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  4. That was a fun ________________.
  5. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  6. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  7. When are we going to ________________?
  8. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  9. He was locked up in a ________________.
  10. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  11. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  12. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  13. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  14. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  15. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  16. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  17. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  18. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  19. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  20. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  21. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  22. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  23. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  24. This piece is in a major ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — a phone
  2. key — for a lock
  3. chest — a box
  4. game — a match
  5. stem — a stem cell
  6. band — a music group
  7. land — to come down
  8. chest — of your body
  9. cell — in a prison
  10. stem — of a plant
  11. game — wild animals
  12. band — a ring
  13. face — to confront
  14. face — part of the head
  15. chest — of your body
  16. band — a rubber band
  17. key — the most important part
  18. cell — in biology
  19. game — a kind of play
  20. face — to point toward
  21. land — ground
  22. stem — to come from
  23. land — a country
  24. key — in music

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