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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: ruler · file · degree · fork · mine · chair

  1. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  2. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  3. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  4. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  5. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  6. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  7. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  10. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  11. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  14. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  15. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  16. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  17. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  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. mine — for digging
  2. ruler — a monarch
  3. mine — belonging to me
  4. fork — a garden tool
  5. fork — to eat with
  6. mine — an explosive
  7. file — a document
  8. degree — from a university
  9. ruler — for measuring
  10. chair — to sit on
  11. fork — in a road
  12. degree — temperature
  13. ruler — for measuring
  14. degree — an amount
  15. file — a line of people
  16. chair — a professorship
  17. chair — a leader
  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