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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 124 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: rush · degree · tear · fork · file · swing

  1. That must've been a ________________.
  2. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  3. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  4. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  5. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  6. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  7. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. David sat on the ________________.
  10. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  11. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  14. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  15. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  16. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  17. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  18. 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. rush — a thrill
  2. rush — to hurry
  3. fork — in a road
  4. swing — in golf
  5. fork — a garden tool
  6. swing — music
  7. fork — to eat with
  8. degree — from a university
  9. swing — to play on
  10. rush — hurry
  11. tear — from crying
  12. degree — temperature
  13. degree — an amount
  14. tear — to rip
  15. file — a line of people
  16. file — a document
  17. tear — from crying
  18. 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