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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: cold · arm · degree · present · face · straw · plane · lean

  1. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  2. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  3. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  4. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  5. My father caught me by the ________________.
  6. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  7. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  8. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  11. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  14. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  15. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  19. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  20. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  21. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  22. The ________________ took off on time.
  23. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  24. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.

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

Answer key

  1. present — the time now
  2. arm — a part of something
  3. plane — in geometry
  4. face — to point toward
  5. arm — part of the body
  6. arm — part of the body
  7. lean — to rest against
  8. lean — thin
  9. cold — not warm
  10. degree — an amount
  11. face — to confront
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. face — part of the head
  14. lean — to bend
  15. present — a gift
  16. degree — temperature
  17. cold — an illness
  18. straw — to clutch at straws
  19. straw — dry grass
  20. present — there
  21. straw — a straw man
  22. plane — an aircraft
  23. plane — a tool
  24. degree — from a university

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