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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: rash · saw · face · chest · march · stem · wind · fork

  1. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  2. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  3. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  4. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  5. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  6. Don't do anything ________________.
  7. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  8. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  9. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  14. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  15. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  16. She's very handy with a ________________.
  17. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  18. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  19. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  20. He works in a ________________ mill.
  21. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  22. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  23. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  24. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — to turn a key
  2. rash — on the skin
  3. stem — to come from
  4. fork — to eat with
  5. chest — of your body
  6. rash — hasty
  7. stem — of a plant
  8. rash — a series
  9. stem — a stem cell
  10. chest — a box
  11. face — part of the head
  12. chest — of your body
  13. wind — moving air
  14. fork — a garden tool
  15. march — the month
  16. saw — the tool
  17. wind — moving air
  18. march — the month
  19. face — to confront
  20. saw — the tool
  21. face — to point toward
  22. march — music
  23. fork — in a road
  24. saw — past of 'see'

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