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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: field · game · mine · chest · wave · foot · face · straw

  1. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  2. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  3. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  4. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  5. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  6. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  7. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  8. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  9. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  10. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  11. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  12. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  13. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  14. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  15. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  16. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  17. That was a fun ________________.
  18. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  19. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  20. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  21. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  22. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  23. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  24. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — to clutch at straws
  2. mine — for digging
  3. mine — belonging to me
  4. face — to confront
  5. chest — of your body
  6. chest — a box
  7. field — for sport
  8. game — wild animals
  9. wave — with your hand
  10. field — a subject
  11. foot — a measure
  12. mine — an explosive
  13. straw — a straw man
  14. foot — the bottom
  15. wave — a sudden rise
  16. straw — dry grass
  17. game — a match
  18. field — farmland
  19. wave — of the sea
  20. face — to point toward
  21. game — a kind of play
  22. face — part of the head
  23. foot — part of the body
  24. chest — of your body

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