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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: perch · craft · rest · stem · degree · face · chair · bat

  1. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  4. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  7. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  8. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  9. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  10. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  11. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  12. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  13. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  20. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  21. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  22. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  23. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  24. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.

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

Answer key

  1. craft — boats
  2. degree — from a university
  3. degree — temperature
  4. craft — a skill
  5. degree — an amount
  6. perch — the fish
  7. craft — a handicraft
  8. face — to point toward
  9. perch — for a bird
  10. face — part of the head
  11. perch — for a bird
  12. rest — a break
  13. stem — to come from
  14. bat — the animal
  15. chair — to sit on
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. chair — a professorship
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. chair — a leader
  20. rest — what's left
  21. rest — what's left
  22. stem — of a plant
  23. face — to confront
  24. stem — a stem cell

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