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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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  2. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  3. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  4. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  7. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  8. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  9. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  10. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  11. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  12. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  13. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  14. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  17. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  18. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  19. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  20. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  23. When are we going to ________________?
  24. He's taking a ________________ right now.

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

Answer key

  1. land — a country
  2. file — a document
  3. degree — temperature
  4. file — a line of people
  5. degree — from a university
  6. chair — a professorship
  7. present — the time now
  8. face — to confront
  9. file — a tool
  10. face — part of the head
  11. land — ground
  12. shower — rain
  13. chair — a leader
  14. face — to point toward
  15. kid — child
  16. shower — a meteor shower
  17. chair — to sit on
  18. present — there
  19. present — a gift
  20. kid — to tease
  21. degree — an amount
  22. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  23. land — to come down
  24. shower — to wash

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