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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: bear · chest · field · fine · root · present · straw · bass

  1. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  2. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  3. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  4. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  5. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  6. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  7. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  8. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  9. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  10. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  11. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  12. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  13. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  14. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  15. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  16. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  17. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  18. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  21. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  22. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  23. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  24. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.

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

Answer key

  1. fine — high quality
  2. fine — all right
  3. bear — to put up with
  4. present — there
  5. bear — the animal
  6. chest — of your body
  7. field — for sport
  8. bass — the instrument
  9. bear — the animal
  10. root — of a plant
  11. straw — a straw man
  12. root — the cause
  13. straw — dry grass
  14. present — a gift
  15. bass — the fish
  16. field — a subject
  17. straw — to clutch at straws
  18. fine — a penalty
  19. field — farmland
  20. chest — a box
  21. chest — of your body
  22. root — of a word
  23. present — the time now
  24. bass — low 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