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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. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  2. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  3. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  4. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  5. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  8. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  9. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  10. When are we going to ________________?
  11. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  12. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  13. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  14. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  15. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  16. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  17. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  18. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  19. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  20. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. file — a tool
  2. fall — the season
  3. straw — a straw man
  4. land — a country
  5. chest — of your body
  6. degree — an amount
  7. file — a document
  8. chest — of your body
  9. wake — to stop sleeping
  10. land — to come down
  11. degree — from a university
  12. wake — a trail
  13. rock — a stone
  14. fall — to drop
  15. rock — music
  16. rock — to move gently
  17. straw — to clutch at straws
  18. chest — a box
  19. straw — dry grass
  20. fall — to drop
  21. degree — temperature
  22. wake — before a funeral
  23. file — a line of people
  24. land — ground

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