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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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Word bank
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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: pound · file · kid · kick · degree · lie

  1. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  3. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  4. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  5. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  8. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  9. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  12. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  15. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  18. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. pound — for dogs
  3. lie — an untruth
  4. kick — with a leg
  5. file — a tool
  6. degree — an amount
  7. lie — an untruth
  8. pound — a weight
  9. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  10. degree — temperature
  11. pound — to hit hard
  12. lie — to recline
  13. kid — child
  14. kick — a thrill
  15. file — a document
  16. degree — from a university
  17. file — a line of people
  18. kick — in football

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