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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 120 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.

Words on the sheet
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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: chest · fan · straw · prune · land · cold · bowl · foot

  1. When are we going to ________________?
  2. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  3. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  4. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  5. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  6. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  7. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  8. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  9. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  10. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  11. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  12. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  13. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  14. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  17. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  20. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  21. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  24. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. land — to come down
  2. bowl — to roll
  3. prune — to trim
  4. chest — a box
  5. fan — to cool the air
  6. fan — a supporter
  7. chest — of your body
  8. bowl — a football final
  9. straw — dry grass
  10. fan — a supporter
  11. land — a country
  12. foot — a measure
  13. straw — to clutch at straws
  14. prune — the fruit
  15. cold — not warm
  16. straw — a straw man
  17. chest — of your body
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. prune — to trim
  20. foot — the bottom
  21. foot — part of the body
  22. cold — an illness
  23. land — ground
  24. bowl — a dish

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