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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 · board · rest · degree · hand · squash · lash · straw

  1. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  4. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  5. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  6. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  7. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  8. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  9. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  10. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  11. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  12. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  15. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  16. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  17. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  18. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  19. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  20. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  21. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  22. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  23. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  24. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. degree — an amount
  3. chest — a box
  4. straw — dry grass
  5. board — to get on
  6. chest — of your body
  7. straw — to clutch at straws
  8. rest — what's left
  9. board — a committee
  10. chest — of your body
  11. lash — an eyelash
  12. board — a flat piece
  13. degree — temperature
  14. squash — the vegetable
  15. squash — to crush
  16. hand — help
  17. lash — a whip stroke
  18. rest — what's left
  19. lash — to lash out
  20. straw — a straw man
  21. hand — in cards
  22. rest — a break
  23. squash — the sport
  24. hand — part of the 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