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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. The ________________ took off on time.
  2. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  3. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  4. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  5. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  6. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  7. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  8. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  9. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  10. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  11. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  12. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  15. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  16. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  17. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  18. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  19. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  20. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  21. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  22. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  23. It's one o'clock ________________.
  24. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

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

Answer key

  1. plane — an aircraft
  2. kick — a thrill
  3. sharp — clever
  4. chest — of your body
  5. chair — to sit on
  6. file — a line of people
  7. plane — in geometry
  8. wound — an injury
  9. wound — an injury
  10. chair — a leader
  11. plane — a tool
  12. file — a document
  13. degree — from a university
  14. kick — with a leg
  15. chair — a professorship
  16. kick — in football
  17. wound — past of 'wind'
  18. degree — an amount
  19. chest — a box
  20. file — a tool
  21. chest — of your body
  22. sharp — with an edge
  23. sharp — exactly
  24. degree — temperature

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