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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: bay · chest · branch · face · field · chair · capital · band

  1. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  2. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  7. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  8. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  9. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  10. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. My mare is ________________ in color.
  13. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  14. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  15. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  16. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  17. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  18. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  19. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  20. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  21. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  22. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  23. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  24. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — to sit on
  2. face — to confront
  3. chest — of your body
  4. band — a music group
  5. field — for sport
  6. face — part of the head
  7. branch — of a tree
  8. chair — a leader
  9. capital — money
  10. band — a rubber band
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. bay — a horse colour
  13. band — a ring
  14. capital — a city
  15. chair — a professorship
  16. bay — to keep at bay
  17. branch — a division
  18. face — to point toward
  19. bay — a part of the sea
  20. chest — a box
  21. field — a subject
  22. chest — of your body
  23. branch — of a bank
  24. field — farmland

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