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

Word bank: rash · kick · cabinet · degree · wind · file

  1. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  4. What do you think of the new ________________?
  5. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  6. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  7. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  8. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  11. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  12. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  13. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. Don't do anything ________________.
  16. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  17. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  18. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. wind — moving air
  3. rash — a series
  4. cabinet — ministers
  5. wind — to turn a key
  6. file — a line of people
  7. kick — a thrill
  8. kick — with a leg
  9. degree — an amount
  10. rash — on the skin
  11. cabinet — ministers
  12. kick — in football
  13. cabinet — a cupboard
  14. degree — temperature
  15. rash — hasty
  16. file — a document
  17. file — a tool
  18. wind — moving air

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