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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 120 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: foot · chair · wind · scale · band · kid · straw · face

  1. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  2. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  4. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  5. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  6. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  7. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  8. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  9. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  10. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  11. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  12. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  13. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  14. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  15. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  16. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  17. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  18. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  19. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  20. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  21. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  22. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  23. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  24. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.

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

Answer key

  1. scale — for weighing
  2. wind — moving air
  3. wind — to turn a key
  4. chair — to sit on
  5. foot — the bottom
  6. band — a rubber band
  7. straw — dry grass
  8. straw — to clutch at straws
  9. band — a ring
  10. face — to point toward
  11. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  12. chair — a leader
  13. face — part of the head
  14. chair — a professorship
  15. band — a music group
  16. foot — part of the body
  17. foot — a measure
  18. face — to confront
  19. scale — size or range
  20. straw — a straw man
  21. kid — child
  22. scale — in music
  23. kid — to tease
  24. wind — moving air

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