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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 116 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 ________________ went through the wall.
  2. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  3. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  4. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  5. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  9. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  10. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  11. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  12. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  13. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  14. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  15. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  16. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  17. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  20. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  21. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  22. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  23. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  24. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. nail — for a hammer
  2. kick — with a leg
  3. wound — an injury
  4. hand — help
  5. wind — moving air
  6. degree — temperature
  7. degree — an amount
  8. file — a line of people
  9. degree — from a university
  10. kick — in football
  11. nail — for a hammer
  12. chip — for betting
  13. kick — a thrill
  14. nail — on a finger
  15. wind — to turn a key
  16. hand — part of the body
  17. chip — in a computer
  18. hand — in cards
  19. file — a document
  20. wound — an injury
  21. wind — moving air
  22. wound — past of 'wind'
  23. chip — to eat
  24. file — a tool

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