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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: chip · file · degree · lean · shower · capital · hide · ruler

  1. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  2. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  7. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  8. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  9. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  10. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  11. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  12. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  13. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  14. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  17. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  18. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  19. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  20. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  21. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  22. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  23. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  24. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.

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

Answer key

  1. hide — to keep secret
  2. ruler — for measuring
  3. capital — a city
  4. chip — in a computer
  5. degree — an amount
  6. shower — to wash
  7. hide — to keep secret
  8. chip — to eat
  9. capital — money
  10. lean — to bend
  11. shower — rain
  12. file — a line of people
  13. ruler — a monarch
  14. lean — thin
  15. degree — temperature
  16. file — a tool
  17. ruler — for measuring
  18. file — a document
  19. capital — a big letter
  20. degree — from a university
  21. shower — a meteor shower
  22. hide — animal skin
  23. lean — to rest against
  24. chip — for betting

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