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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.

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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. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  4. I'll be taking the ________________.
  5. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  6. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  7. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  10. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  11. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  12. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  13. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  14. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  15. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  16. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  17. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  18. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  19. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  20. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  21. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  22. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  23. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  24. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. kick — a thrill
  2. degree — from a university
  3. file — a line of people
  4. tube — the underground
  5. straw — a straw man
  6. file — a document
  7. present — there
  8. degree — temperature
  9. stem — to come from
  10. present — the time now
  11. fork — to eat with
  12. tube — in a tire
  13. kick — in football
  14. straw — dry grass
  15. straw — to clutch at straws
  16. file — a tool
  17. stem — of a plant
  18. present — a gift
  19. stem — a stem cell
  20. fork — in a road
  21. fork — a garden tool
  22. tube — a container
  23. kick — with a leg
  24. degree — an amount

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