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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: wound · sharp · degree · mine · chest · hand · row · lean

  1. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  2. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  5. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  6. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  7. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  8. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  9. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  10. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  11. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  12. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  13. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  14. It's one o'clock ________________.
  15. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  16. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  17. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  18. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  19. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  20. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  21. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  22. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  23. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  24. I had a ________________ with my boss today.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — a box
  2. row — a line
  3. chest — of your body
  4. chest — of your body
  5. wound — an injury
  6. mine — for digging
  7. mine — an explosive
  8. sharp — clever
  9. mine — belonging to me
  10. wound — an injury
  11. lean — to rest against
  12. sharp — with an edge
  13. row — to paddle
  14. sharp — exactly
  15. hand — part of the body
  16. degree — an amount
  17. lean — to bend
  18. lean — thin
  19. wound — past of 'wind'
  20. degree — temperature
  21. hand — in cards
  22. degree — from a university
  23. hand — help
  24. row — a quarrel

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