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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 · band · staff · last · face · ground · bat · tube

  1. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  2. There's no middle ________________.
  3. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  4. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  5. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  8. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  11. False peace will not ________________.
  12. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  13. I'll be taking the ________________.
  14. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  15. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  16. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  17. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  18. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  19. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  20. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  21. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  22. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  23. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  24. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a ring
  2. ground — a position
  3. ground — crushed
  4. tube — in a tire
  5. chest — of your body
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. band — a rubber band
  8. staff — a stick
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. chest — of your body
  11. last — to go on
  12. last — finally
  13. tube — the underground
  14. staff — employees
  15. bat — the animal
  16. face — to confront
  17. ground — the earth
  18. tube — a container
  19. chest — a box
  20. face — to point toward
  21. face — part of the head
  22. last — final
  23. band — a music group
  24. staff — employees

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