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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: face · pit · chair · degree · branch · key · shower · file

  1. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  2. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  3. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  4. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  5. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  6. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  7. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  8. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  9. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  10. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. This piece is in a major ________________.
  14. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  15. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  16. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  17. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  20. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  21. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  22. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  23. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  24. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.

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

Answer key

  1. key — the most important part
  2. face — part of the head
  3. chair — to sit on
  4. face — to point toward
  5. pit — a hole
  6. chair — a professorship
  7. shower — to wash
  8. file — a document
  9. file — a tool
  10. branch — of a tree
  11. degree — an amount
  12. degree — from a university
  13. key — in music
  14. key — for a lock
  15. shower — rain
  16. shower — a meteor shower
  17. chair — a leader
  18. degree — temperature
  19. branch — a division
  20. file — a line of people
  21. face — to confront
  22. pit — in a race
  23. pit — a fruit stone
  24. branch — of a bank

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